Welcome to the Roxanne Thomas Project page (formerly the Roxanne Thomas Trust). We changed our name to signify the ongoing nature of the work we do and how we collaborate with organisations who bring joy to adults with learning difficulties.

We do everything in memory of our beloved daughter, sister, cousin, friend Roxanne. Our aim is to work with organisations that were close to Roxanne’s heart and helped her establish herself as an independent adult.

So far, thanks to your fantastic donations we have raised funds for Roxanne’s day center, her sports club and her youth club. Your donations helped the day center buy badly needed technology, the youth club fund days out and the sports club get back together.

This year we are supporting Growing Together who provide an inclusive daily experience for adults with learning difficulties and Mexcraft who are an organization who use arts and crafts as a vehicle to build confidence and provide outreach to adults in the community. We believe these two organisations are shining lights in the local community where Roxanne lived and leading the way for services tailored for adults with learning difficulties.

We encourage you to follow our social media pages...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theroxannethomastrust/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRoxanneThomasTrust/

See you next year – The Roxanne Thomas Trust and the Thomas Family

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A bit about Roxanne and the Trust:

Roxanne Patricia May Thomas came roaring into this world on Thursday, 10 February 1984 and from that moment on she was the perfect embodiment of her name – a bright star. She was clever, lively and well-loved. She danced and sparkled and made everyone see that life was more than they ever thought it could be.

Our Roxanne was not only a bright star, but she also an EXTRA-ordinary person. Roxanne had Down's Syndrome and a beautiful and innocent soul that shone like a beam of light through the hearts of the people who knew her.

Meet Roxanne once, forget her never. She cast her magical spell over everyone, from fellow dance lovers at her Zumba classes, ladies at her local hairdressers, to kids and families of her brothers’ junior football teams. She was a beloved housemate in her supported living bungalow in Conisbrough. A welcome face at the local cinemas, bingo halls and bowling alleys and a familiar presence at Pettit’s Coffee Shop where she volunteered for 15 years.

Roxanne was able to touch so many and build such an independent life because of the social and life skills she gained through local organisations that aim to help people with learning difficulties.

These organisations do some incredible and often unrecognised work for people like Roxanne in our community. They work tireless and continuously in the background bringing happiness and independence to not only people with learning difficulties, but their families too. Unfortunately, they are desperately underfunded and often rely solely on donations and volunteering.

Roxanne (like many others with learning difficulties) knew this and spent most of her life helping to raise money and volunteer to keep these organisations alive. While her commitment and selflessness warrant an endless list of activities, her favourites were making arts and crafts to raise money for her youth club, singing in her school choir at Christmas to fundraise for local nursing homes and volunteering at the local sports club. Her life was devoted to giving back so others could continue to benefit from these organisations.

On 14 April 2020 Roxanne passed away unexpectedly. Losing her has been the single most painful experience that her friends and family have ever experienced.

The loss of Roxanne has caused those that were closest to her to reflect and reprioritise. This time has given us purpose and a passion to pick up where Roxanne left off. We’ve set up the Roxanne Thomas Trust which will continue the good work she began by supporting the organisations she treasured. Moving forwards, every year we will be fundraising using the essence of Roxanne, encapsulated by dance, joy and purple. We’ll be keeping her star shining bright in her community, for her community. So, everyone can continue to feel her love.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the Roxanne Thomas Trust, our mission, our purpose and our goals.