Our CEO, Michele Farmer, will be writing a monthly letter between September – December with news of the charity, our future plans, and how you can continue to be superheroes to children across the UK.
Hello,
My name is Michele. I am the new CEO of Go Beyond, a charity based in Devon that has helped over 17,000 Children living in the most serious circumstances in the UK (formerly trading as CHICKS). We simply provide these children with breaks away from their challenging lives. We teach them skills to take home and give them the chance to thrive when they return to their normal lives.
The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone, many of us are looking to the future and starting to plan, many of us are even thinking about a holiday – imagine you’ve never had a holiday and could never ever dream of going on one. Imagine you have never seen the sea, or felt the sand in your toes. Even worse, imagine you have never known a life without neglect or abuse. Sadly, this is the reality of many children’s lives. One in three children in the UK live in poverty and suffer from neglect or abuse. These are the children we want to help; to give them a break from their challenging lives. The chance to learn new skills, make new friends, and learn to create a positive mindset. One where they believe they are capable of going beyond anything they dare to imagine.
Since we reopened after lockdown, our first group of children came to us from London. One girl, *Lilly, had been bullied at school and suffered abuse at home. She was amongst a group that had never seen the sea. Her response was to return to her life with renewed energy. She wrote to Go Beyond to say how in just one week she felt her confidence and positivity flood back. Together with her social worker she’s picking up the pieces and planning a better future thanks to her Break away.
I’m asking you to help support this incredible work. We offer a five day Residential stay and Day Breaks, also over five days, to groups of 14 children at our centres in Cornwall, Devon and Derby.
Since lockdown ended over 300 children have been referred to us by social workers and teachers desperate to give the children they look after a break from their home life.
This year due to the pandemic our income is affected, and we are having to work twice as hard to raise the £1.4 million needed to make sure children can come on breaks. Next year we want to help over 1000 children.
Your help would be much appreciated, and I would love to have a chat with you about any of the following:
- Talk to us about becoming a Major Donor – a simple donation would help us to plan for the next few years ahead.
- Becoming a Charity Partner – do you work somewhere that would team with us to raise money? We offer a bespoke Fundraising Package that will help get your staff fundraising and learning about Go Beyond. Our activities help bring teams together and promote a sense of wellbeing.
- Pay it Forward – I’m asking you to think about any contacts you might have that you think would be interested in our work and help Go Beyond by introducing me to them.
Thank you for taking the time to find out more.
