Donations

The Garden Classroom

July 25, 2024By

Specialist equipment helps SEN kids re-connect with nature

The Garden Classroom (TGC) is a multi-award winning charity dedicated to reconnecting people with nature.

The Axis Foundation donated £2,008 to enable the Islington-based charity to purchase equipment for Hobbs Hill, their site for day trips and multi-night camping. Hobbs Hill (in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) is designed to offer urban children a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in nature.

“Your donation is going to make a huge difference to our facilities on camp, especially for those children with Special Educational Needs. Your support will help us provide inclusive and accessible access to enriching, life-changing experiences for nature-deprived children, with impact extending well beyond their enjoyment of the camp itself.

“Our aim is always to create a deep connection with nature that can resonate throughout the lives of those taking part: and we couldn’t do this without your help – thank you!” – Millie Darling, Director of Countryside Programmes

The Axis Foundation’s donation will benefit over 200 children and their teachers who visit the campsite each year. We enabled the charity to purchase SEN resources for an autistic safe space on the campsite and a 6-person hammock, both of which will help reduce sensory overload and provide a calm, relaxing environment.

The Foundation also provided funds for top-up tools (essential for hands-on activities like bushcraft and den building) and a tarpaulin to safely cover the fire circle and provide shade for eating and cooking.

There’s more about The Garden Classroom here

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Disability

Greengrow

July 25, 2024By

Accessible toilet for visitors with disability

Greengrow is a not-for profit, ecologically-run farm which produces food boxes for local households and grows food for a local food bank. They also offer enriching educational countryside experiences for urban children.

The charity was seeking funding for an accessible composting toilet for visitors with disability – and the Axis Foundation donated £5,000 to help them.

“We can’t thank you enough, this has made our week; it will make a huge difference to our organisation.This funding will allow us to reach out to more people who will benefit from our beautiful farm. It will be a real legacy project that will form part of our Care Farm hub.

“Thank you again so very much!” – Rozelle Bettesworth (Director)

Greengrow Farm currently has one composting toilet but it is not accessible for individuals with additional needs. The new accessible toilet for visitors with disability brings Greengrow a wider gain: Greengrow can offer more day placements for adults with learning disabilities and expand their offerings to schools so more visitors and come and learn about farming and growing food.

There’s more about Greengrow, a beautiful 34-acre mixed farm in the Waveney Valley, here

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Donations

Free to Be Kids

July 25, 2024By

Transformative mental health support via the outdoors

Free to Be Kids transforms the mental health of disadvantaged London children via outdoor experiences including the 5−day residential Thrive Outside project. Here children meet animals at the farm, build dens in the woods, cook together and camp under the stars. Most projects are based at Cudham Environmental Activities Centre in Kent, owned by Free to Be Kids’ charity partner the Woodcraft Folk.

Each year, Free to Be Kids runs 25 such residential breaks supporting around 400 children most of whom have never left their corner of London.

The Axis Foundation was delighted donate £7,993 to pay for the materials for a new storage facility at Cudham. This took the form of a weather-proof, insulated and secure storage shipping container.

“Simply put, without your support, we may not have been able to continue using Cudham. All of our project equipment (bedding, sports, cooking, outdoor activity equipment) had been stacked to the roof in a tiny storeroom which we were no longer able to use.

“We would need to reduce child place numbers by 30% annually, meaning c120 vulnerable children would have no access to transformative mental health support via the outdoors that we offer” – Mike Gee, Free to Be Kids CEO

And our Axis Apprentices install the storage container!

Axis’ apprentices cleared the land and laid the foundations for the shipping container, then weatherproofing it and connecting it to power. They fitted out the inside with shelving and waterproof crates for storage. And they also then fenced it in, to make sure the new storage facility was secure, and put in some attractive planting too.

More about Free to Be Kids

Winners of London Youth’s ‘Adventure Charity of the Year’ (2022) and ‘Outdoor Education’ (2019), Free to Be Kids supports children in Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Bromley who experience multi-factor harm, including parental addiction, neglect, abuse, poverty and homelessness, resulting in significant emotional/behavioral difficulties affecting mental health. There’s more about their work offering transformative mental health support via the outdoors here

And you can read more about the Cudham Centre on the Woodcraft Folk’s website here

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Disability

Sussex Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus

May 1, 2024By

Helping young adults with complex disability

Sussex Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (SASBAH) provides lifelong support for over 1,000 children and adults affected by spina bifida, hydrocephalus and related disabilities.

The Axis Foundation donated £1,760 to purchase eight precision cutters for members of Saspire, the charity’s work experience and training project for young adults with complex physical and learning disabilities.

“This is really wonderful news, thank you so much. New precision cutters will enable the Saspire team to fulfil their contracts with local businesses, through our accessible and supported workshop. Saspire supported work experience enables people with complex disabilities to gain confidence, learn new skills and increase independence. These new machines will be a tremendous boost” – Laura Cecil, Trusts Fundraiser

Laura told us: “SASBAH’s mission is to enable people affected by physical and learning disabilities to lead the lives they want to. We do this by providing lifelong support to over 1,000 people through a range of joined-up services including local support groups; advice and advocacy; a youth club; residential breaks and community engagement. We work across Sussex to offer socially inclusive activities such as meet-ups, exercise and art workshops, lunches and excursions, and we have Saspire, our popular and unique work experience project.”

There’s more about SASBAH’s work here

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Community

Bexhill Men’s Shed

February 23, 2024By

Sharing skills and friendship

Bexhill Men’s Shed provides a space to combat loneliness and isolation. Here men (and women) can access tools, workbenches, skills and opportunities to make and mend in the company of others. Whilst using their practical skills and learning new ones, they make new friends.

The Axis Foundation was pleased to donate £2,000 to Bexhill Men’s Shed to ensure they remain self-sustaining, available and accessible to all.

“How delighted we are at Bexhill Men’s Shed to have been awarded this grant from Axis Foundation. We are grateful that you are helping us in this way. The money donated will certainly go towards ensuring that we are able to become self-sustaining by the end of this year, which is our aim” – Derek Merkl, Chairman/Trustee

More about Bexhill Men’s Shed

Bexhill Men’s Shed provides a workshop space where men (and women) in Bexhill can use and share their practical skills and life experiences to support each other, working side by side and producing and repairing items.The service users here have made Infant School Play equipment, garden benches/tables, Hedgehog houses and many other items to raise funds to remain self-sustaining.

There are 1,000 Men’s Sheds in the United Kingdom. They aim to help alleviate the high rates of suicide, depression, and loneliness amongst elder men.

There’s more here

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Three little children planting lettucesDonations

The Visionaries 

January 31, 2024By

Creating hands-on outdoor learning space for children

The Visionaries help children, young people and educators to connect with nature. Whilst open to all, they focus on supporting young and marginalised people and those facing challenging transitions. The social enterprise is based at School 360 in Stratford, east London, near to Axis’ head office.

The Axis Foundation agreed to donate £9,500 towards buying raised beds and 50 fruit trees to help with the rewilding of School 360’s outdoor space. The overall scheme will serve as a hands-on, learning space fostering environmental consciousness and creating stronger connections to nature.

“Thank you so much. This will make a huge difference to the project. We are re-imagining the school’s grounds, to enhance the school community’s nature connectedness. This funding will contribute towards the rewilding of the school’s outdoor spaces, creating a dynamic environment that brings people together, improves community well-being, and supports the potential of the students”  – Max Girardeau, Director

More about The Visionaries Education CIC

The Visionaries is a not-for-profit social enterprise. They partner with schools, universities and other educational institutions to produce transformative nature-based programmes and adapt their learning environments to be more ‘nature connected’.  Through participating in their programmes, youths and adults report discovering a greater sense of purpose and belonging, feeling more hopeful and more equipped to create the future we know we need to live sustainably on the planet.

More here

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Woman reading to two infants from a bookCare

Hug-a-Bug World (HBW)

January 31, 2024By

Positive emotional wellbeing for young people

Positive, relatable storylines in books; “I am Unique, “I am Brave” and “I Can Do It” affirmation hearts and tactile toys: these all help the emotional development of Hug-a-Bug World’s Early Years and young children. Setting the tone are adorable bugs Sedric Snail, Bella Bee and friends who support one another and learn as they go.

The Axis Foundation donated £15,000 to HBW to provide books, affirmation hearts and toys. And we will be working with them to reach children and families in areas where Axis, our parent property services company, works.

“At a time where Mental Health challenges in our younger generations is finally getting some attention in the media, we at HBW are forever grateful to the Axis Foundation for making it possible for us to engage with thousands of children, through their generous donation” – Julia Keys, Founder

More about Hug-a-Bug World

The HBW programme promotes positive emotional wellbeing for young people. This is proven to have a beneficial effect on academic focus, building good relationships, and development of empathy and understanding of each other and the natural world.

Hug-a-Bug World is currently working with 30 schools in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London. They have also worked closely with the Holiday Activity Fund (HAF) programme in multiple UK locations. All children (10,000 +) take home a storybook, a Hug-a-Bug heart and activity sheets. They demonstrably increase their self-confidence, empathy, self-worth, resilience, and acceptance of themselves.

The Chairman of the Axis Foundation Trustees, Peter Varney, was very impressed by the good feedback from Birmingham HAF. So he engaged Hug-a-Bug World to deliver their HAF programme via Millwalls’ Community Fund – with similarly successful results.

See more about Hug-a-Bug’s amazing work here

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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. Many are referred to the charity by their local Job Centre.

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 interactive whiteboard will be a valuable addition to our digital resources and will supplement and enhance the learning experience of disadvantaged learners” –  Sarjeet Singh Gill, Managing Director

More about ATN

Adult Training Network Limited was founded in 1999 to help the most disadvantaged members of the community access mainstream education. 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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