Welcome to our fundraising page!

We are raising money for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People by doing the 28 Challenge! This is our third 28 Challenge and we’re very excited!

If you would like to sponsor us with this challenge, we would be so grateful. Any donation is gratefully received. I will be doing one main crochet project, just to make it a bit more exciting, it will be kept a secret but we will give you some progress updates everyday, maybe you will guess what it is? 😉 As well as that, we will also be selling some crochet things so look out for those.

I was matched with my Hearing Dog, Wilbur in March 2022 and he is truly the best thing that’s ever happened to me! He has changed my life in more ways than I ever could’ve imagined, he’s my best friend in the whole world and I love him so much. I call him my angel as that’s exactly what he is ❤️

Before I was matched with Wilbur, my life was very isolated and lonely. I would purposely sleep in as late as possible so there were less hours in the day I would be awake. Then I would just count down the hours until bedtime. It wasn’t even a life and I missed out on so many things.

Since he arrived, that’s completely changed, he has opened up my world and enabled me to live my life, I’m no longer counting down the hours until the end of the day. I never felt safe before Wilbur, even at home. I was always worried I would miss important sounds so I could never relax. I never went out on my own and always relied on family members.

Wilbur helps me everyday by alerting me to sounds that I always used to miss. He wakes me up every morning when my alarm goes off and he also alerts me to other sounds such as the doorbell, cooker timer, FaceTime and the smoke alarm. But, he has helped me so much more than this and in more ways than I ever could’ve imagined.

I now have independence, I’m more confident, he makes me feel safe and makes me visible. Before he arrived, I didn’t want to be visible and would hide away but he’s given me the confidence to be myself and I no longer feel like I need to try to fit in, I accept myself now ❤️ He also gives me so much love and companionship, he makes me smile every single day.

I’m taking part in this challenge to support Hearing Dogs so they’re able to train more dogs like Wilbur and change another deaf persons life like they’ve done for me. I do it because there could be another deaf person out there feeling like I did. When I was feeling like this, there were incredible people from the Hearing Dogs charity, many of those volunteers, giving their time, energy and love to bring myself and Wilbur together. These are people I hadn’t previously met and they did it because they wanted to help change a deaf persons life. The kindness they’ve shown me, I want to give the same back to help another deaf person so they get to have their very own Wilbur by their side.

Every penny I raise will help more hearing dog puppies to be trained, so that one day they can transform a deaf persons life. Hearing dogs are highly trained to alert deaf people to important and life-saving sounds, such as the smoke alarm, alarm clocks and even intruder alarms and baby monitors. They also provide lots of love, companionship and emotional support, which is really important as many deaf people can feel lonely and isolated. It costs £25,000 to fully train a hearing dog, so the 28 Challenge is a great way to raise funds to train more dogs. Any donation, however large or small, will really help. Thank you.

We hope you enjoy our challenge, let’s go!!!

Lucy and Wilbur 🐾