Charities to be supported
We are very much hoping to be fundraising for the following charities. Please follow links to their websites if you would like to find out more, or would like to donate.
Autism Wessex
Autism Wessex are a regional charity founded in 1968. They provide support, care and education to children, adults and families with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Their services include Portfield School, a specialist school based in Christchurch for children aged 3-19 with autism, 7 residential settings which are home to up to four adults needing 24 hour care, Community Support services offering over 3,000 hours of care a week to adults in the community, and a Community Connection telephone service offering signposting and advice to anyone who needs it.
Christchurch Community Partnership
The CCP exists to combat social isolation across the age demographic in our community of Christchurch. We do this in two ways – by directly delivering services, and by influencing other organisations and agencies to work collaboratively to identify and fill any gaps, and to avoid duplication of services.
Also including Christchurch Angels: We are an award-winning voluntary befriending service for residents in the Christchurch area who need short-term help in times of difficulty or crisis.
https://www.christchurchcommunitypartnership.org.uk/angels.html
Bournemouth Hospital Charity
Established to make a difference to every patient and every condition that is treated at our hospitals and provide added value to provisions made though NHS funding. By working with the community and businesses we help provide a better environment, extra equipment and training to help improve the health and wellbeing of both our patients and our staff.
The Food Bank Christchurch
Christchurch (UK) Food Bank provides 3 days worth of emergency food to individuals and families struggling or in crisis within our local community. CFB is a Christchurch Fellowship of Churches Initiative in partnership with Faithworks Wessex.
The Water Lily Project
The Water Lily Project is a registered Christian charity that predominantly supports vulnerable women in crisis. This may be a temporary crisis such as an acrimonious divorce, bereavement, illness etc. Or it could be something more long term such as mental health issues, self-harming, domestic violence and abuse, addiction or financial difficulties.
Julia’s House
Julia’s House is not a typical children’s hospice. We provide practical and emotional support for families caring for a child with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, providing frequent and regular support in their own homes, in the community or at our hospices.
Macmillan Caring Locally
The Macmillan Unit at Christchurch Hospital is a Specialist Palliative Care Unit and Hospice for patients in South East Dorset and South West Hampshire. The charity, Macmillan Caring Locally, works in partnership with the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide the services at the Macmillan Unit and in our community.
Dorset Children’s Foundation
The Dorset Children’s Foundation is an independent local charity dedicated to improving the lives of disabled children living within our community. We provide mobility equipment, therapies and medical expenses not provided by The NHS. 100% of all donations go to a disabled child, with nothing taken out for admin or wages.
Helping Young Minds
Helping Young Minds is a registered charity which was founded in 2020 and is based at the Mad4Dance centre for Dance and Wellbeing in Christchurch. The charity aims to help and support children and young people in the local area with their mental and emotional wellbeing through activities, guidance, information and support.
Helping Young Minds website
Somerford ARC
Somerford ARC is a community centre that aims to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being and quality of life of people in the Christchurch area, especially the residents of Somerford.
The Regent Centre
The Regent centre provides a professionally run venue for the performance of theatre, music and film for Christchurch and surrounding areas. The development and expansion of the venue is achieved by fund raising and grant applications.
Cystic Fibrosis
We provide information and support to help everyone with CF to live life to the full.
Community Soup Kitchen
We are a registered charity based in Christchurch providing hot nutritious food, clothing and other much needed essentials to the homeless and the vulnerable in our local community. We also support, help and signpost to other relevant agencies. https://csk4thecommunity.wixsite.com/soupkitchen
Christchurch Town Scouts
Christchurch Town Scouts: helping to provide young people develop and improve key life skills. Character skills like resilience, independence and tenacity. Employability skills like leadership, Teamwork and problem solving. Practical skills like cooking, first aid and coding.
Dorset Community Foundation
In this last year we have awarded more than £1.2 million in grants to charities, groups and individuals across the county. Our donors and funders trust us to use their money where it can make the most impact because our expertise and knowledge of where the need exists in Dorset is unrivalled.
Because we are not cause specific, we can consider funding any area of disadvantage as long as it is Dorset-based. To find out more about us, how to donate and the grants we have available, see:
Ashley’s Birthday Bank
Ashley’s Birthday Bank was set up at the end of 2014 and registered as a charity in April 2015. We provide two types of services: Firstly we provide underprivileged children (up to the age of 16) with a birthday and Christmas present to ensure they do not go without on these special occasions. Secondly we provide a crisis service for families who find themselves going through a financially difficult time or who have escaped domestic violence, neglect, human trafficking or abuse.
British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation: More than half of us will get a heart and circulatory condition and your support means that we can fund more life saving research to keep hearts beating longer. We are celebrating our 60th anniversary this year.
Christchurch and Bournemouth RNLI
Christchurch and Bournemouth RNLI: raising funds for the training and equipment of the RNLI Lifeguards on the beautiful beaches around our bay. There have been lifeguards on Bournemouth beaches since 1965; they have been recruited, managed, trained and equipped by the RNLI for nearly 20 years. To support them, go to:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Christchurch-Bournemouth-RNLI-lifeguards-2021
Hengistbury Head National Coastguard Institution
Watchkeepers are “eyes along the coast” for HM Coastguard. NCI Working for you. We maintain a watch from Barton-on-Sea in the east, through Christchurch and Poole Bays, and 12 miles out to sea round to Bournemouth pier in the west. The Headland is 36 metres (118) feet high and separates Christchurch bay from Poole Bay.
Red House Museum
Our charitable purpose is changing lives through culture, and, since forming in 2014, we have developed a strong understanding of the diversity of local need. We work closely with local and national partners to put collections, communities and their stories at the heart of all we do, developing and extending our work to focus on areas where we can deliver social change, and ensure that we can reach vulnerable people in our communities.
https://www.hampshireculture.org.uk/red-house-museum-and-gardens
Mudeford Community Infants’ School
Mudeford Community Infants’ School is a mainstream, state funded junior school for mixed in Christchurch, Dorset, England.
ShelterBox
ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity established in 2000 in Helston, Cornwall, UK, that provides emergency shelter and other aid items to families around the world who have lost their homes to disaster or conflict.
The Listening Ear
The Listening Ear provides one to one counselling within school settings to children and young people aged 5-19 residing in and/or attending school in the BCP Council area. We support children and young people with a range of issues including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, adverse childhood experiences, anger management, trauma, alcohol & drug misuse, and abuse. We provide a confidential and safe space where they can express their feelings, explore the impact of their choices, and learn techniques to help manage their emotional and mental wellbeing.
https://www.the-listening-ear.org/
Somerford Youth and Community Centre
Somerford Youth and Community Centre provides services and activities to local people with a focus on those who are disadvantaged and deprived. A lot of our work focuses on providing activities for young people to help them improve their confidence and self-esteem and to enable them to develop key life skills by creating opportunities to enable them to have positive futures in life. We also run projects for all age groups such as our community gym and our community food project, The People’s Pantry which is a membership scheme that provides families who experience food poverty with weekly food which they can come and choose for themselves.
Bournemouth Blind Society
Believed to be Bournemouth’s oldest independent charity, Bournemouth Blind Society works across the BCP area supporting blind and partially sighted to lead active and independent lives. We do this by providing the following services: Emotional Support, Community Support, Sight & Hearing Resource Centre, Befriending and Social Groups.
https://www.bournemouthblindsociety.uk/
Lewis Manning Hospice
Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is a charity established 28 years ago, providing extraordinary care to patients and their families facing a life-limiting illness across Poole, Purbeck, East Dorset. We offer a range of free hospice care services aimed at helping people to live well through their illness, closer to home. These include: Day hospice, Creative arts & wellbeing support, Lymphoedema clinic for cancer patients, Better breathing clinic, Family bereavement & support
Every year we support nearly 500 local people and we develop new services, based on patient need and identified gaps in the area. To do this we need to raise over £1.6m every year. Without these funds we could not exist. Our important work increases people’s physical and social well-being, reduces isolation and loneliness, supports people to stay in their homes longer, and alleviates the huge pressures on family and carers.