Blind Teenager Donates £50,000 for UK’s Guide Dogs

Ella Sparrow became blind due to complications a few months after birth. Her twin brother died 3 weeks after he was born. Due to her complications, her retinas were badly damaged meaning she is now completely blind. The 13-year old teenager has now raised and donated £50,000 for charity, an amount that can be used to maintain one guide dog for a life time. Guide dogs are dogs trained since birth to help aid those who are blind or partially sighted people to be able to go around and become mobile.

When Ella was born, she weighed only 1 lb. and 8 oz. because she was born 3 months prematurely – as a result, she spent her first year in the hospital. Now, she and her family are actively supporting Guide Dogs for the Blind. Because of her condition, she understands how important their roles are in the life of a blind person and the extra care given to these dogs by their handlers to equip them with the skills needed in order to become a legitimate guide dog.

They not only act as guides but as great companions as well. Ella and her family managed to raise money through activities such as a sponsored pot washing session, auctions, and raffles. They hosted the pot washing session at Halfway House, a local pub. One of their donors, the House Manager of Halfway House, Adam Cohen, donated an extra £50 to the fund rising for washing dirty pots for an hour in a restaurant. He wanted to donate for this cause because he was moved by Ella’s heartwarming story.

Ella’s father worked at Castrol UK and Ireland. When he heard that the company chose to sponsor guide dogs this year, he was more than happy to hear the good news. When they gave their first £5,000 donated, they named a dog after Jacob, Ella’s twin brother. Guide Dog for the Blind Association UK was founded in 1934 by Muriel Crooke and Rosamond Bond who first trained German Shepherds as guide dogs for the blind. It aims to train dogs and provide them with skills to help those who are visually impaired.

 

Byte Night: People Sleep Out So Children Can Sleep In

Over a thousand workers from the IT industry sacrificed a comfortable night’s sleep in order to raise money for charity. 1,150 slept rough in support of Byte Night, a yearly fundraising sleep-out event for Action for Children. Sleeping rough has definitely paid off though as the cause managed to raise £1 million this year, a first in its 15-year history. The Byte Night was held in a number of locations, which included Belfast, Manchester Cambridge, Edinburgh, Birmingham, London and Reading.

Proceeds from Byte Night will be used to support young people on the verge of homelessness. Action for Children makes sure that they are provided with their basic needs and board until such time as they are able to be fully independent.

Action for Children attends to those children who have been abused and neglected, left the care system, are experiencing difficulties with their very own families, to even those who have totally been homeless.

With the alarming rate of more than 100,000 homeless children on the cold streets of UK, this event couldn’t come at a better time. Sexually abused young people, as well as those who struggle with depression are given more attention by the organisation. Action for Children provides these children with proper education and different opportunities in order to gear them up with what’s in store in the future.

IT professionals, as well as other participants who camped out, all shared a strong desire to be a part of this noble occasion. Some said that this serves as their own little way to show their social responsibility towards these children.

According Ken Deeks, the founder of Byte Night, this year’s event surpassed all of the other events’ successes. What started as a small sleep out of only 30 people has grown into a massive yearly gathering of patrons and supporters, who believe in the cause of looking after every children’s safety and welfare.

And after 15 years and almost GBP 7 million of funds raised, Byte Night, as well as Action for Children have not only maintained its presence, but have gone more successful ever since, being one of UK’s top fundraising events. Action for Children is one of UK’s most profitable charities and registered under the laws of England and Scotland.

 

BIG Lottery Fund Announced Tie In with Big Names in Music to Inspire the UK Youth

Amongst the thousands of different languages now spoken all over the world, one inexplicably stands out. For some unknown reason everyone knows and understands this language. Music has always been capable of touching people’s lives, and at this day and age, its influence, especially to the youth is undeniably massive.

As a testament to this, thousands of youngsters every year flock to open fields in the countryside to see acts such as Taylor Swift and One Direction. In order to make the most out of music’s popularity, Big Lottery Fund saw the opportunity to use this medium as a powerful tool to improve millions of young lives in the UK.

The National Lottery’s arm in distributing funds for their chosen good causes recently signed up to a partnership with UK’s loudest names in the music and entertainment industry, also partnering with various youth organisations in order to provide positive changes, serving as catalysts to the improvement of the youth’s welfare in the UK.

UK Youth, The BRIT School and The Brit Awards, together with Capital FM and its charity org Global Charities, will make use of their resources to help transform the lives of young people in deprived areas all over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

These partners plan to put up big music events, educational programs and talent competitions to give the youth a venue to harness their skills and talents, thereby, improving their self-esteem and social skills.

Various music-related programs will be delivered to the youth through the help of a number of media resources. Since this campaign is designed to help the youth, it is only fit that people as young as 14 to 24 years old facilitate the project.

With this approach, issues are acknowledged and addressed firsthand by those who are directly concerned, the youth. The BRIT Awards, being a well-respected name in UK’s music scene intends to offer a number of internships at some of the world’s biggest record companies.

Some will also be lucky enough to be mentored as well as gain experience at the BRIT Awards. Other partners for the campaign include UK Music, Abbey Road Studios, The Eden Project, The Co Sponsorship Agency, SB.TV, Myplace, Rathbone, Classic FM, as well as many others. Exposing the youth participants in a world driven by ambition as well as awareness on how the music and media industry work will result to their desire to be parts of a wider social circle, leading to various opportunities that will help them succeed in life.

Big Lottery, since 2004, has been responsible in awarding more than GBP4.4 billion to hundreds of thousands of life-changing projects all over the UK to those who are especially in need. The organization funds projects in line with the government’s objectives, which includes improving different sectors such as education, health and environment.

 

Argos Believes in Children and Charity

Argos, one of the biggest toy retailers in UK, aims to donate a £1 million pound bumper to Bernardo’s, a charitable institution, aimed to help children. It is urging parents and children from Driffield to donate their second-hand toys to the cause as part of its The Argos Toy Exchange.
 
The proceeds will go to children who are at a disadvantage such as those who are disabled and being abused.
For every toy that they donate, they will be given £5 worth of coupons. Each person can use up to a total of £35 worth of coupons until December 24.

Denis Van Outen is helping to launch the campaign towards this cause and thinks that toys are important for children not only for the joy that it gives each child but it also helps them learn and develop. Van Outen urges people to send their donations to either Argos or Bernardo’s and be one of those giving and sharing their blessings with those in need.

Bernardo’s Director of retail and trading, Gerard Cousins, said that because of the success the cause had the previous year, he is excited about the opportunity to donate more toys to the poor. He is also pleased by the amount of positive responses they have had from the people and their willingness to help.

People may send their donations to retail and trading stores of Bernardo’s and Argos from October 16 to November 26, 2013. Bernardo’s will also hand out the £5 coupons to those who will be delivering it in their retail stores.

Bernardo’s is a charitable institution that was established in 1866 by Thomas Bernardo. He founded a school in the east of London for children who were left orphaned due to the outbreak of Cholera. The foundation’s aim was to help children who are vulnerable and needing care and attention. They provide counseling, support adoption, fostering, education, and training. In order to fund their cause, they have high street and local retail shops as well second hand stores all around the UK. They also have their own song that children from Debham C of E Primary school sings to raise money and sell goods such as greeting cards.  

 

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Visit Greenhouse Charity.

On the 26th of July, the Duchess of Cambridge helped raise awareness in aid of the Greenhouse charity as the 2012 London Olympics began. Kate, Prince William and Harry visited the organisation in Rotherhithe that helps thousands of young people each week take part in various sporting activities in order to give them something positive to do rather than getting into all kinds of trouble. They supported the launch of the new ‘Coach Core’ project, which helps “train 16-to-19-year-olds to become qualified coaches and mentors for their schools and communities.”

The three visitors engaged in the activities supplied by the organisation such as a little game of football in which Prince William’s lack of football skills entertained the youngsters and highlighted their potential at the game. The Duchess of Cambridge also took part in a game of table tennis and showed off her “deft touch on the ball”, as she was captain of her school hockey first XI when she attended Marlborough.

The three of them finished the day as Prince William gave a speech commemorating the work within ‘Greenhouse’ and also highlighting the importance of sport and the Olympics. As William said, “what all three of us have in common is that we love sport. And not just playing it, but what it does for people young and old. It builds confidence, engenders mutual respect and responsibility, and teaches us about the value of team work.” William also spoke about how excited they were to be part of this new programme and for Greenhouse to be in partnership with their foundation.

At present the charity relies on funding from sources such as the Future’s charity, which was set-up by John and Caroline Nash. The Royals’ presence on the day, brought a lot of media attention to the charity, all in hopes of increasing the funding and getting the support they need in order to become an ever growing organisation.