THEIR work gives strength and support to young, sick, vulnerable, or disadvantaged people across the North East. And now the Journal has joined forces with People’s Postcode Trust to give a £30,000 cash windfall to the causes close to all our hearts.

Readers will have the unique opportunity to be part of Vote that Counts and decide which charities they think should receive a much-needed cash boost.

The charity with the most votes will receive £15,000, with £10,000 to the organisation in second place and £5,000 for third.

Every penny will make a huge difference to the deserving causes and each has a worthwhile project on which they would like to spend the cash.

The hardest part for you will be deciding who you want to vote for.

For this inaugural North East Vote that Counts campaign, a team from the Trust and The Journal had the hard task of drawing up a shortlist of charities.

We decided to focus on children, health, care and the disadvantaged – all incredibly important to our readers – and each charity has a good track record of helping North East communities.

The charities are Daft as a Brush, Crisis, Action for Children, Gingerbread, Guide Dogs and Percy Hedley Foundation.

Over the next three weeks each charity will be urging their supporters to make a Vote that Counts by going online to register their free vote.

And those that spread the word using Facebook or Twitter can earn extra votes.

Anyone over 16 years and resident in Great Britain can vote and the six charities featured in these pages will be overjoyed to receive public support and vital financial backing.

Those lucky enough to receive the cash boost will be announced on November 26.

People’s Postcode Trust – the charity funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery – has already helped more than 850 good causes and players have now raised over £20m for charities in communities across Great Britain.

Lawson Muncaster, chair of People’s Postcode Trust, said: “This year has been tough for many people and so many deserving charities are finding their services in more demand than ever before.

“At People’s Postcode Trust, we felt it was time that we helped in a small way by giving these charities the chance to win a total of £30,000 in funding and also sharing their fantastic work with the generous North East public.

“The judges had a difficult time whittling the shortlist down to just six deserving charities but we hope that the finalists pull the heartstrings of The Journal readers to not only vote but also get involved directly and support some of their vital work.”