Our campaign is now complete. 469 supporters helped us raise £6,276.00
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Visit the charity's profile#Willdoes was set up in August 2019 by Lesley Paddy after the tragic death of her son William, aged 14 years. Charitable status was granted in December 2019.
The focus of #willdoes is to promote any charitable purpose (including the promotion of education, physical health, mental health and social inclusion) and contribute financially to charitable projects for the benefit of young people in Dorset and the surrounding areas.
Introducing young people to sports and other activities to help them connect and engage socially, rather than retreat to more insular gaming and social media pastimes is a core value.
The charity has raised over £90,000 in its first 15 months despite the Covid-19 impact forcing fundraising events to be cancelled. Key fundraising activities have been fun run/walks, golf days, equestrian events, #Willdoes branded clothing, scooter jams, tractor runs, functions and personal donations. A number of virtual events have raised money in 2020.
Many young people have also created successful independent initiatives to fundraise inspired by Williams story. This has motivated the Trustees to set up a youth committee to help keep the charity informed on issues with young people and to propose fundraising activities that would engage the young.
The Trustees are supported by an extensive committee base and the charities ambassadors are William Fox-Pitt MBE (World and Olympic equestrian eventing Champion), Sandra Redknapp, Holly Woodhead (international equestrian eventer) and Jason Fox (ex-UK Special Forces, better known as Foxy, instructor on the TV show SAS: Who Dares Wins)
Please see our website for further information about our fundraising activities.
Grants to date total £40,000. These include Purbeck Youth and Community foundation for various initiatives, Ocean Youth Trust who help troubled young people with sailing programs, Mosaic helping young people coping with bereavement plus a number of smaller pledges that meet our funding objectives.
#Willdoes has from its creation been focussed on supporting children and young adults. Youth Services in Dorset have been severely impacted by recent austerity measures, relying heavily on volunteers to fill the gap.
Our next challenge is to provide a double decker bus to act as a support vehicle and youth hub based in the seaside town of Swanage, providing a safe space for young people to meet and access information and support.
#Willdoes has seeded £10,000 to get this project off the ground and we need a further £40,000 to see it to fruition.
We have the support of Swanage Town Council which has pledged to provide an electricity supply and parking space in a central location, near the towns skate park. We hope to have access to public WCs and fixed lighting, provided by the Council.
Following the purchase of the bus for £10,000, the remaining £40,000 will be used for the following:-
Carry out a refit to our specific design requirements including: kitchen, private consulting area, seating area with tables downstairs, media installations and open plan upstairs for flexibility of use
Install air conditioning / heating
Install a 9kw generator
Install security doors
Exterior and interior decoration
Downstairs will be fully DDA compliant
Youth Worker funding
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