Welcome to the first edition of the ‘Make a Big Difference’ newsletter, the fundraising newsletter brought to you by Impact Living and Impact Young Heroes.
Impact was set up twelve years ago to house and support vulnerable young people with an array of complex issues. The support we provide covers many potentially problematic areas including education, training, health and independent living. Since Impact’s inception, several successful projects have been introduced with many of them being award winning, for example the renovation of Haselbury, Shepton and Bridgewater apartments and more recently, the development of the Purbeck Court project.
One of Impact’s newest projects is Impact Young Heroes which supports young people with cancer. This project, which is now a registered charity in its own right, was inspired by Nissar Bahadur who was one of Impact’s staff and sadly passed away due to liver cancer at the age of 19 years old.
In recent months, Impact’s management team decided to rebrand as Impact Living, so that the young people supported by Impact could feel a part of the the organisation without feeling like they were seen as charity recipients. On consulting young people whether they liked the name ‘Impact Living’ they often said that it was ‘young’ and ‘vibrant’. Impact hopes this will help us to attract new young people to our service, without feeling like they are somehow different to other members of society.
Impact’s work has grown considerably over the last 12 years. As a registered charity, we depend heavily on regular donations and financial gifts to carry out our valuable work. In the current economic climate we need this help more than ever. Strategically, we felt the need to ‘freshen up’ our fundraising approach and direct it to the widest possible audience, hopefully encouraging many new people to get involved with Impact. This is why we have launched Makeabigdifference.org
The new Makeabigdifference.org website is designed as a window into the world of Impact Living and Impact Young Heroes, keeping you regularly updated on our latest news and developments and aware of some real life stories of clients at Impact.
We hope you enjoy the first ‘Make a Big Difference’ newsletter and please pay a visit to our new website Makeabigdifference.org
Kim Tetlaw
Editor
The Making of Makeabigdifference.org
In the past, Impact has only used a single website that tried to accommodate all of our stakeholders which included the many young people we support, other young people who would like to use our service, funders and trustees, local authorities and councils. Although informative, it was extremely difficult to please all of these very different client groups with just one website. It proved a difficult ‘balancing act’ between showing the good work that Impact does and trying not to offend our service users by making them feel like they are dysfunctional or disadvantaged.
Recently, when asking a group of young people in the Bradford district their thoughts on utilising the services of housing charities, many believed in the work of the charities and even thought they could benefit from their services. However, they said that they wouldn’t like to be seen as a “charity case” and would not advertise the fact they where using these services.
After these findings, Impact rebranded its support services to Impact Living and created a website solely targeted at service users.
Today, Impact is holding a trial launch of the Makeabigdifference.org website site. It is still very much a work in progress and we would greatly appreciate your feedback on it. This new website is designed to inform of all the latest developments within Impact Living and Impact Young Heroes, keeping all of our stakeholders informed on real life stories of Impact clients, plus new developments and progress of the charity.
Impact Wins Green Apple Award
Impact is pleased to announce that we have won the Green Apple Award for ‘Environmental Best Practice’.
Nigel Delaney, Chief Executive Officer of Impact attended the prestigious event at The House of Commons, Westminster on 10th November to collect the award.
This award was won for the work carried out at the Purbeck Court project in Holme Wood, Bradford. Impact took over two blocks of flats that had been uninhabited and vandalised for many years. The buildings had become a hazard and an eyesore to the local community and were previously earmarked for demolition.
Impact continued its positive track record of recycling such buildings in a cost effective and environmentally friendly way. Since the transformation, Purbeck Court has been fully occupied by young people who were previously at risk of homelessness, crime and abuse.
Please see the before and after pictures below which show what Impact achieved at the Purbeck Court Project.
2008 Sustainable Housing Awards
Nigel Delaney, Chief Executive Officer of Impact Living was shortlisted in the ‘Green Social Housing Champion’ category of The Sustainable Housing Awards 2008, organised by Inside Housing magazine.
More than 130 nominations were received for the award and the winners trophies where presented at an awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane on Tuesday 11 November. The sponsors of the awards include Wates Living Space, EPS Social Housing, Civica, Axis and the NHBC.
Nigel was placed a close second and it was great to be recognised for the important and valuable work he does.
Katie’s Story
21 year old Katie Brooman had to face the grim reality of cancer when at just 19 she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.
Like any other teenager, Katie was interested in fashion, music and going out with friends; she also had a job as care worker which she loved. Here’s her story…
In January 2004, Katie visited her GP about a persistent knee pain which had bothered her for some time. Without having any tests or x-rays, Katie was referred to a physiotherapist. She persevered with the physio for about a year but found that the pain was getting worse. Katie again visited her GP who refereed her for yet more physio . “Once more, I stuck religiously to the exercises” Katie said. “I was hoping they would bring me some much needed relief from the pain”
By Christmas 2006, the pain in Katie’s knee had become so excruciating that she could hardly bend it and the swelling was increasing. A determined Katie returned to her GP and was finally referred to a specialist physiotherapist and rheumatologist who took X-rays and blood tests.
Katie said “I was lucky that the consultant I saw knew what this rare cancer looked like and had worked at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in Birmingham” That day, 5th February 2007, Katie was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma. As we all would feel, Katie felt totally numb with shock. “At 21 you don’t think it could be cancer. I felt too young to be hearing those chilling words”.
A frightened yet incredibly brave young lady was whisked off to Leeds General Hospital where for the next 10 weeks she endured gruelling chemotherapy. Shortly after, Katie had an operation which thankfully was a success; specialist surgeons removed all of the cancer and put in a new knee joint and replaced half of her thigh with a titanium rod.
Through the treatment and its side effects, Katie conducted herself with immense determination and extraordinary courage. Unfortunately, this was just the start of a very long recovery process which saw Katie undertaking a further forty weeks of chemotherapy to kill any other cancer cells. She also had intensive physiotherapy to help strengthen her muscles and gain back some mobility.
On the 13th February 2008, doctors confirmed that the cancer was in complete remission. Katie admits that she had been very nervous about the results “Even though the doctors had told me they would be very surprised if they found anything I was still nervous. Getting the all clear was the best result possible! Just the best news!”
Katie still has to attend regular clinics and hospitals for tests and scans but has a bright outlook on the future adding “At the moment I’m trying to get back to normal and enjoying having some freedom back, I hope to return to work one day when I’m well enough and have a bit more improved mobility. I’m currently enjoying having my freedom and I hope to become more independent in the near future”
Katie is a remarkable young lady who has shown so much courage and insightfulness. She has taken her experience with cancer and used it as an opportunity to raise awareness by attending various conferences and she has even created her own website which can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/ktlouise85.
Impact would like to thank Katie for the use of her story and photos.
Jumble Sale Success
A jumble sale recently held in the picturesque village of Sheriff Hutton, North Yorkshire was a huge success raising an impressive £1512.05 for Young Heroes.
The Jumble Sale was organised by The Jumblies, a wonderful group of ladies (and one man!) who have a very successful history in fundraising for many charities and organisations.
The jumble sale featured a raffle, refreshments, and a fantastic book sale along with the many items including clothing, toys and bric-a-brac.
Lending a hand in the jumble sale was Katie Brooman (left) and her parents Brian and Lyn. Katie is an amazing and inspirational young woman who has been actively involved with Young Heroes since May 2008 after benefiting from some of our services. She did an amazing job on the Tombola raising a magnificent £115.20! As did her dad, Brian taking Admissions and selling raffle tickets and her mum, Lyn, who helped with refreshments.
Katie said the event was fantastic; it was a privilege to meet some staff and volunteers of Young Heroes. They are an amazing group of people and the charity does so much to support young people.
Chief Executive of Young Heroes, Nigel Delaney said he was delighted with the success of the jumble sale.
“I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped make the jumble sale a great success.
It raised over £1500 which will support a young person living with cancer” he said
“I would like to extend a special note of thanks to the Jumblies who organised and hosted the event so admirably.”
Caroline, a resident of Sheriff Hutton said “The Jumble Sale went well for Young Heroes, there was a very warm and ‘feel good’ atmosphere radiating everywhere. The Jumblies were really cheery and pleased at being able to work alongside such a great team”.
It was fantastic day and we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed with jumble and help on the day, and a very special thank you to the tireless work of Jumblies and the community who showed up to support it.
Saxophony
Saxophony is a thriving group of young saxophonists based at Solihull School, West Midlands.
Saxophony, under the committed leadership and inspiration of Christa Greswold, their Musical Director, have raised £1000 for Young Heroes to date. Christa has motivated, inspired and spent endless hours working with Saxophony, to produce a musical group of exceptionally talented young people. They have played before Prince Edward and we are very privileged that they have adopted Young Heroes, as they are constantly in demand and manage to support other charities alongside ours, which includes many hours of hard work and practicing, which they often do very early in the morning prior to their studies.
Back in June 2008 Saxophony organised a concert on a canal barge with all proceeds going to Young Heroes.
That day they raised £210 which was to have gone towards their food budget whilst in Lanzarote, doing another concert to raise money for Impact Young Heroes which gives respite care holidays on the island of Lanzarote to young people with cancer. Unfortunately the concert has had to be cancelled due to the collapse of Excel airlines which they had booked to come out on.
We would like to thank the schools Headmaster, Mr Phillips, for allowing his pupils the time and facilities to practice and put on functions in aid of Young Heroes. We would also like to extend our thanks to the parents who support the charity by ensuring that their sons and daughters are transported to and from fund raising events. Some parents had also committed themselves to going over to Lanzarote, to help support the group during the proposed concert which had to be cancelled.
We hope to arrange a future event whereby Saxophony will meet some of our Young Heroes and they will perform for them. Also we would like to be able to put on a picture show of some of the Young Heroes memorable holiday experiences. This will also give us all the chance to say a huge thank you to Saxophony and Christa Greswold who have planned to continue supporting Young Heroes in the future.