Donations

Adult Training Network

January 29, 2024By

Resourcing Digital Learning for disadvantaged people

Adult Training Network (ATN) provides education, training and employability skills to disadvantaged people.

The Axis Foundation donated £2,500 so ATN could purchase an interactive whiteboard to facilitate digital learning at their Training Centre in Southall, west London.

“The integration of the smart board in the classroom was very impressive. Not only did the use of this interactive technology keep the students engaged but … learners were evidently more focussed, thanks to the visually appealing content that was presented to them in an engaging way.

“It has changed the traditional lesson and made it more participatory and fun.

“Overall, the interactive white board been very useful, both for tutors and students, who have been very excited about the new method of learning. This innovative approach to teaching has set a high standard for interactive pedagogy” – Sarjeet Singh Gill, Managing Director (from Impact Report provided to the Trustees of the Axis Foundation)

More about ATN

Adult Training Network Limited was founded in 1999 to help the most disadvantaged members of the community access mainstream education. Many are referred to the charity by their local Job Centre.

The charity unlocks marginalised learners’ potential for employment and social connection through education, training, employability support and links to job opportunities. They offer a wide range of in-person and online accredited courses as well as vocational qualifications and apprenticeships.

ATN’s BAME, migrant and refugee learners (many of whom have South-Asian backgrounds and/or are from Syria or Ukraine) hail from highly deprived wards and have low English, literacy and numeracy levels.

There’s more here

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Man wearing hat and glasses holding a Victoria sponge cakedisadvantaged

Cherry Orchard Garden Services (COGS)

January 19, 2024By

COGS’ Grow-Cook-Eat project helps adults with learning disabilities gain skills and independence

The Axis Foundation donated £1,000 to help COGS purchase ingredients for their Grow-Cook-Eat project. The programme teaches learners how to cook simple, easy meals that they can replicate at home. They can use fruit and vegetables they have grown on-site at COGS. These make a healthy alternative to microwaved ready meals. Learning how to cook and eat healthily brings many long-term benefits to learners – and their carers and families too. We estimate that around 17 people on this programme will benefit directly from our donation.

“We are so grateful to The Axis Foundation for generously donating towards our Grow-Cook-Eat project. Cooking is one of the most valuable skills our service users can learn. By helping us purchase additional ingredients to enhance their home-grown fruit and vegetables, the Axis Foundation is contributing to many life-changing outcomes. It enables our service users to learn a whole spectrum of skills which all contribute to them living an independent lifestyle as they grow themselves. Thank you!” –  Beckie Flynn, Treasurer

Two service tell us how Grow-Cook-Eat project benefits them!

“It helps me because I can now make my own sandwiches, go into a shop and recognise ingredients and have new ideas to try to do myself at home’”- Tom

“It has helped by teaching me new things to cook. It teaches me to cook on my own and grow some vegetables I can make into meals” – George

More about COGS

COGS Prepares 4 Life CIO provides day opportunities for adults with learning disabilities, autism and other complex needs in Burntwood, Staffordshire, and surrounding areas. Through gardening, cooking, woodwork, travel training and basic education, COGS’ members gain new skills, find friendships and embrace the confidence and independence needed for everyday life. There’s more about COGS here

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disadvantaged

Strength & Learning Through Horses

December 20, 2023By

Helping children in crisis to a positive future

Strength & Learning Through Horses helps young people in mental health crisis turn their lives around.

The Axis Foundation awarded Strength & Learning Through Horses a grant of £12,000 to purchase a modular building to help them continue their services – whatever the weather.

“We are very grateful for your recent incredibly generous donation of £12,000 … Thanks to your donation, we will be able to purchase a modular building in which to teach our therapy sessions. These sessions help young people in mental health crisis to begin to turn their lives around and move towards a positive future. Thanks to your support we will be able to help more of these young people access our life-changing service” – Dr Hockley and Rosie Bensley, Founders and Joint CEOs

More about Strength & Learning Through Horses

Strength & Learning Through Horses is London’s largest equine-assisted therapy and education charity currently supporting 400-450 young people in crisis per year. Many children have experienced significant trauma and neglect and are either excluded from mainstream education or considered at risk of exclusion.

The charity uses the natural ability of horses to read and respond to human emotions to engage young people in the process of learning about their own behaviours and emotions.

More here

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Care

Strongbones Children’s Charitable Trust

December 20, 2023By

Winter warmth for vulnerable children with bone conditions

Strongbones Children’s Charitable Trust helps children with severe disabilities/complex needs coupled with bone conditions such as scoliosis, bone cancer and spina bifida.

Each winter, many Strongbones children are hospitalised due to hypothermia, pneumonia, respiratory disease and Covid. Many children are from families in poverty. And fuel poverty adds to the severity of this problem.

The Axis Foundation’s winter 2023 donation of £5,600 buys 40 Winter Warmer packs to help the charity keep their children warm. Each pack consists of a penguin fleece blanket, an oddie wearable blanket, a pair of warmies soft boots and a warmies penguin handwarmer.

“This is wonderful news!! Thanks to all the trustees for agreeing to this incredibly generous grant. We have many children who will hugely benefit from these lifesaving packs” – April Fitzmaurice, Manager

More about Strongbones

Strongbones supports over 1,000 families of vulnerable children in Essex. They work to decrease social isolation and increase inclusion through supplying disability/educational equipment and providing educational opportunities. The charity also provides practical and emotional support to parents and carers, respite breaks, group residentials and accessible sports.

There’s more about their work here

 

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Disability

Mobility for Little Kit

December 20, 2023By

Accessibility and mobility for little boy in wheelchair

Kit was an able child until he was 18 months old in 2021, when he suffered a 2-hour long seizure. This caused significant brain damage and visual impairment. Kit is now five. He cannot walk, talk or crawl and needs constant care and hoisting.

Kit’s family have struggled to pay the cost of adapting their home: they plan to build an extension with fully hoisted bedroom, bathroom and storage area.

They needed to build an access path and ramp as part of these adaptations – and also so that Kit can use his motobility vehicle. The Trustees of the Axis Foundation were delighted to help the family. And so the Axis Foundation’s first donation of £7,000 created an accessibility ramp for the family home.

“We’re so grateful, you have no idea what this will do for our family (especially Kit!). We’re desperate to keep our son at home with us: but without the path we’re not allowed the extension and without the extension he will not be allowed to live with us (in the future). We want to give him the best life we can” – Katherine, Kit’s mother

The story continues

The Trustees, agreed to a further donation in 2025 of £3,000 to purchase a special hydraulic bath for Kit.

His mother Katherine explains the benefits: “The bath with water in can rise up so we can stand comfortably and bath him. Currently we have to lift him, and stand over a normal bath, which is very bad for our backs! It has extras including hot air jets, underwater speakers and lights. This is to make a bath a sensory experience for Kit. He can’t enjoy a lot of the world. He either can’t see it, or can’t understand it (such as watching football match or TV).

Again, the grant is life changing for all of us. It provides safety and basic care needs for Kit, as well as an incredible immersive sensory experience. Then it makes caring for him safe and easier for us, as it has a built in changing mat.”

You can support Kit here

 

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Care

Azalea

December 19, 2023By

Helping survivors of sex trafficking

Azalea supports and empowers women surviving domestic and international sex trafficking through many programmes including Drop-In and Outreach, 1-1 or recovery support.

The Axis Foundation’s donation of £10,000 helped Azalea buy a Mobile Drop-In Van: many women find it challenging to come to Azalea for the first time: years of extensive abuse foster a deep lack of trust. So the new van will enable Azalea to go to them.

“We are deeply grateful for the dedicated support that the Axis Foundation has shown Azalea by awarding this grant. Not only have they demonstrated their belief in the work that Azalea does, they have demonstrated their belief in the possibility of transformation that is present for every survivor of sex trafficking. A belief that all are worthy of a life, free. We thank the Axis Foundation for investing in the lives of the 421 women that we know and care for, who are surviving sex trafficking and for partnering with us in the creation of the Mobile Drop-In Van,” Kate Dunwoodie, Deputy CEO

More about the Mobile Drop-In Van

All women who engage with the Azalea’s outreach Mobile Drop-In Van will receive non-judgemental care and support in the aftermath of trauma: from being held captive in brothels or being forced into on-street sexual exploitation. The van will be a safe space, away from the crowds, out of sight of pimps and traffickers, reducing the risk of re-exploitation. It will offer best opportunity for intelligence and safeguarding disclosures as well as building relationships with Azalea’s friendly, specialist staff and volunteers in a comforting space where guests can sit, enjoy a hot drink or food and acquire clean clothes and safety kits.

More about Azalea here

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Disability

Red Eagle Foundation

December 19, 2023By

Freedom for a young boy with complex health needs

Our donation of £5,000 to The Red Eagle Foundation helps buy both an electric wheelchair and all-terrain buggy for Arthur, a young boy with severe learning disabilities and complex health needs.

 “It was such a joy to see Arthur’s face at the wheelchair assessment… his joy of being in control of moving when there is so much that he can’t control due to his health. The buggy will also help him get out and about in areas where the wheelchair is not suitable. It is going to have such a positive impact on the family”  – Dominic Comins, CEO

More about Arthur

Arthur is a 12 year old boy. He is classed as a SWAN  (‘syndromes without a name’) and despite a lifetime of procedures and tests, as his mother says, “what we don’t know is how my son’s condition will change as time goes on”.

Arthur’s physical and mental health are deteriorating and his mobility levels decreasing. He is cared for additionally by Demelza, the Axis Foundation’s charity partner.

The Trustees of the Axis Foundation were delighted to help Arthur by making his life more mobile with an electric wheelchair to increase his independence and accessibility at venues/events. For example, he loves going to Howletts Zoo to see the elephants; but the hill is a challenge in a manual wheelchair – particularly for his mother who has had two back operations.

More about The Red Eagle Foundation

The Red Eagle Foundation empowers disadvantaged children and grants wishes to children with life-limiting illnesses. There’s more about their work here

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disadvantaged

The Children’s Book Project

December 19, 2023By

Giving the gift of books to disadvantaged children

The Children’s Book Project collects new and gently-used books and redistributes them free to children and young people growing up in poverty.

The Axis Foundation’s donation in 2023 of £3,500 funded ten Pop up Book Huts in London schools – from where the children can choose their free books.

‘We would like to express our enormous gratitude to the Axis Foundation for its generosity. As a small, grassroots charity, we are entirely reliant on fundraising. This donation will have a big impact on the Children’s Book Project, helping us put books straight into the hands of the children that need them most” – Liberty Venn, Founder

The instantly-recognisable, bright green, painted huts have been used as a gifting mechanic for circa 24,000 books pa in rotation across 30 schools and are hugely popular with both pupils and teachers.

The story continues

In 2025, the Trustees of the Axis Foundation approved a further award of £4,000 to install 20 new book donation stations around London, facilitating the collection of books for onward gifting to schools. It is estimated that the new permanent book donation points, housed in high visibility sites across the capital such as corporate offices and shops, will each collect thousands of books annually, supporting tens of schools and many thousands of children to experience book ownership.

“Wow! Thank you so much! This is incredible news, we are absolutely thrilled to have your support again. This funding will make a real difference to our charity” – Kate Morgan-Evans, Grants & Engagement Manager

And there’s even more…

Axis volunteers Alfie Shortall, Phil Cornell and Arjinder Bhogal collected and delivered the book huts to local schools. And their colleagues Jake Thomas, Jasveen Grewal, Thomas Crane, Steve Harpley and Daniel Brownett sorted books at the charity’s warehouse in Westminster.

And the Axis Midlands team is currently hosting a book drive for The Children’s Book Project to support communities that present a high level of socioeconomic disadvantage and/or emotional need.

More about The Children’s Book Project

The Children’s Book Project charity sees first-hand how giving children access to books makes amazing things happen; vocabularies expand, empathy grows, imaginations are ignited and children learn.

‘’Receiving these books is changing the reading culture of our school in a positive way…The Book Project through their generosity has enabled us to provide books to children who had none at home’’ – Teacher, Southern Road Primary, E13

You can read more about the incredible work of The Children’s Book Project here

 

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Care

Opportunity for Bespoke Care for Charles

December 19, 2023By

Private autism assessment and chance for bespoke care

The Trustees of the Axis Foundation were delighted to donate £1,000 to help Luke Comb acquire a private assessment for his son Charles, who is showing clear signs of autism. A private autism assessment opens up opportunities for bespoke care.

“The rewards will be endless, the impact huge and life changing. Thank you” – Luke Comb

More about Luke and Charles

Luke desperately wanted a speedy assessment for his son Charles who was showing signs of autism. Getting Charles the right diagnosis early means he can be given the support he needs and opens up opportunities including access to special development programmes and bespoke care.

But waiting lists are long and family financial resources limited. So Charles applied to our Foundation for support.

In Luke’s words: “Charles is showing clear signs of autism. He is non-verbal and struggles in many everyday settings including with danger awareness and interaction. Professionals believe he is Autistic but cannot assess him for some time, possibly a couple of years. During this time, he won’t have full support or access to programmes that would benefit him.

“I believe this age is the crucial time to have him in the correct setting with access to purpose-built programmes for his development that will benefit him all through life. We believe, once fully diagnosed, he will have full support at an early stage when it is most needed.”

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Donations

Chance for a Future for Esmay

December 19, 2023By

Chance for education – and a future – for Esmay

Following young Esmay’s diagnoses of autism, dyslexia and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and her mother’s application to the Axis Foundation, the Trustees agreed to donate £870 to fund a private Occupational Therapy (OT) referral to progress Esmay’s Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) submission.

The long-term impact of our donation will be Esmay’s successful secondary education providing her with options for a future career.

“We literally can’t thank you enough, it is going to make such an impact for us. Without her EHCP in place, moving to further education will be a difficult transition for Esmay and she will struggle whilst waiting for an OT assessment” – Zarah, Esmay’s mother

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