After a competitive application process, The Wave Project has been selected to take part in the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge aiming to raise £44,000 in just one week and are appealing to the public to help them!
These funds will be used to support their life changing surf therapy work with children and young people who have been diagnosed with mental health challenges or are deemed at risk.
Donations matched
Donations to The Wave Project will be generously matched by The Big Give’s Champions during the campaign, meaning public donations can support twice as many children and young people.
This year The Wave Project are looking to raise a total of £88,000. In order to access the £44,000 they have in the matching pot, we need to raise £44,000 in online donations.
James: I see first-hand what a difference surf therapy can make to the children
Abbie James, Project Coordinator, Isle of Wight said,
“We are delighted to have been chosen to be part of the Big Give Challenge. We are appealing to the public to give generously this year to help us reach our target to ensure that we can increase the number of children we will be able to help in the coming year.
“The cost of living crisis has already caused an increase in children being diagnosed with depression and anxiety and those self-harming and this is before the crisis has really taken hold.
“Donations of any size can be doubled and will ensure that we can really turnaround the lives of children as young as eight-years-old.
“I see first-hand what a difference surf therapy can make to the children who leave our programmes with increased confidence, resilience, self-esteem and a positive outlook. I would urge anyone who has ever thought about supporting us to help us with this campaign.”
How can you get involved?
Visit the Website and make a donation from 12pm (midday) on Tuesday, 29th November.
The campaign will close at 12pm on Tuesday, 6th December.
What is The Wave Project?
The Wave Project helps vulnerable children and young people across the UK with mental and physical health challenges through surf therapy. From St Ives to St Andrews, we support almost 2000 children every year.
The children and young people in the UK are suffering from a mental health crisis following the pandemic and it is clear that the cost of living crisis is going to have a devastating affect beyond anything we have ever seen before.
One in six children had a probable mental health disorder in 2021 according to a recent NHS report. This manifests through sleeping problems, eating problems, an increase in self-harm and hospitalisation and children we are working with are presenting with significant problems ranging from extreme anxiety, depression and self-harm.
6,000 children helped since 2010
Since 2010, over 6,000 children and young people have accessed our surf therapy courses throughout the UK. Based on data from our previous courses we are confident that the children funded by this programme will see significant improvements in confidence, resilience, calmness, self-esteem, positive function, happiness and overall well-being.
For children deemed at risk for a variety of reasons (including bullying, autism, neglect and bereavement) the power of surf therapy cannot be underestimated
Show your support
You can help us to carry out this work by donating to us in the Big Give Christmas Challenge.
All you need to do is visit the Website and donate to our project from midday on 29th November to midday on 6th December.
About the Christmas Challenge
Big Give runs the UK’s biggest match funding campaign, the Christmas Challenge.
For seven days, it offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to have their donations doubled. Founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Alec Reed CBE, the Christmas Challenge has raised millions of pounds for thousands of charity projects since it first launched on the Big Give in 2008.
The Christmas Challenge is a match funding campaign where donations to participating charities are doubled. The match funds come from two sources – charities secure some of these (Pledges) over the summer. The funds are then boosted by funds from a Big Give Champion who contributes to the match fund pot. The collective pot is used to double donations from online supporters when the campaign is live.
News shared by Abbie on behalf of The Wave Project. Ed
