Supported Charities

The 22nd July 2014, the first day of the school summer holidays, was a hot sunny beautiful day. Kyrece Francis, and 17 friends decided to find a secluded spot where they could play football, listen to music and cool off in a shallow River. They settled in a large field alongside The River Thames that had a sandy bay which looked really shallow. They were having so much fun. Some of the children including my son ventured out to swim to a central island, this is when Kyrece got into difficulties in the water. Many attempts were made by his friends to rescue him but sadly he tragically lost his life. There were no signs warning people not to swim and no warnings about the hidden under currents, no safety equipment nearby.

Kyrece’s Legacy has been set up to remember Kyrece and the charity aims to place signs & safety equipment along the Thames & to work with schools to educate children  about swimming in open waters.

With activereach’s donation, the charity will be able to install more water safety units along the river pathways local to our community.

Find out more about how you could support the charity at https://www.ky22.co.uk/support-donate

Hearing dogs for Deaf People is a charity based in Buckinghamshire, which trains and matches clever dogs with deaf people to help improve the quality of their lives and form lifetime partnerships. Often, deaf people can feel isolated and alone, affecting not just themselves but their families and friends too. It can be a blow to someone’s confidence and take away their independence.

Since 1982 Hearing Dogs for Deaf People have matched over 2000 dogs to those in need, providing companionship and an invaluable service to their owner by alerting them to important sounds they would otherwise miss. These include sounds such as the alarm clock, doorbell and oven time and life-saving sounds such as the fire alarm.

With activereach’s donation, the passionate team of volunteers at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People will be able to provide numerous items needed to train and care for the dogs, such as food, bedding, equipment or grooming, training and of course play time.

Read more at www.hearingdogs.org.uk/ 

Wycombe Homeless Connection helps homeless people rebuild their lives, assisting them to climb out of the homelessness trap and take their place back in the community. The charity focuses on those who do not qualify for housing help from the council: when people come to them, they literally have nowhere else to turn.

activereach is delighted to support Wycombe Homeless Connection with the donation and installation of two brand new laptops for their client drop-in centre in Castle Street, High Wycombe.  The charity will make the laptops available to those facing homelessness, to assist in their search for housing and enable all-important Internet access to other community and council resources.

activereach would like to wish all volunteers working at Wycombe Homeless Connection the very best in their 10th year of operation.

The advice and support centre is open every weekday in the centre of High Wycombe. Please visit https://www.wyhoc.org.uk/ to find out more.

(Picture: John Baldock of activereach (left) and James Boultbee, Operations Manager, Wycombe Homeless Connection)

Child Bereavement UK is a Wycombe based charity which supports families and educates professionals when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying, or when a child is facing bereavement. Every year the charity gives free, professional face to face bereavement support to between 50 and 60 High Wycombe families who need it.  They train teachers, doctors, nurses and police to be more confident supporting bereaved parents or children.  They also have a free helpline for families or professionals to call when they need someone to talk to, or answer questions they may have at this difficult time.

Why they are needed

• Every 22 minutes, a parent dies leaving dependent children; that’s around 111 children being bereaved of a parent every day
• 1 in 29 schoolchildren has been bereaved of a parent or sibling – that’s a child in every class
• Every day, around 28 babies, children and young people under the age of 25 die
• Every day, around 16 families are bereaved by suicide
• Around 1 in 4 pregnancies is thought to end in miscarriage

Read more at https://childbereavementuk.org/

(Picture Louise: “I called Child Bereavement UK. Immediately we had the lifeline to make survival possible”)

Orla’s Own Steps is a Buckinghamshire charity set up to raise funds for a life-changing operation for Orla, aged 3. Orla was born 5 weeks premature and after a complicated birth she had to be resuscitated. At 11 months old Orla was introduced to the world of seeing therapists weekly with lots of prodding and poking and tests and at 2 years old she was diagnosed with Ceorebral Palsy (basically for Orla over tight muscles in her legs). The operation Orla will need is a procedure called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). This will reduce the spasticity in Orlas legs, improve her co-ordination and hopefully enable her to take her Own Steps for ever!!

Orla is not quite ready for this operation. The operation is a gruelling 5-6 hours and more importantly Orla will require 3-4 sessions of private physiotherapy a week for up to 3 years. We have a huge amount of work to do in strengthening her physically and mentally so that she is strong enough for this procedure. To fund this operation and the physiotherapy pre and post operation along with equipment and intensive fitness sessions we need to raise approximately £85,000.

Update October 2016: Thanks to hundreds of contributors, Orla’s fund raising achieved target and she underwent surgery in September. Following 12 weeks of intensive therapy, Orla can now take her Own Steps. Visit her Facebook page to see her in action. Congratulations Orla!

Read more at www.justgiving.com/orlasownsteps

Thames Valley Air Ambulance is the only charity responsible for funding and operating the air ambulance serving the communities of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Since 1999, the charity has responded to more than 15,500 missions averaging 3 each day, making it one of the longest established and busiest air ambulance organisations in the UK.

The charity’s aircraft carry a crew comprising pilot, a doctor and a paramedic plus full life-support medical equipment. Operating from RAF Benson, the maximum flying time to hospital from anywhere in the region is less than 15 minutes. If a patient reaches hospital within 60 minutes of injury (referred to as the ‘Golden Hour’) their chances of survival are dramatically increased. That is why the rapid response of the air ambulance is so vital in an emergency situation. TVAA receives no Government or National Lottery funding. The charity is fortunate to count on tremendous public support and good will, but never takes this for granted.

Read more at https://www.tvairambulance.org.uk/