As we met at JustGiving, it felt only right to celebrate our wedding with a JG page :-)
It was back in August 2008 that we first got to know each other, over a table in a JustGiving meeting room, discussing the brand's tone of voice. Several months later, drinks at the Clock House on Leather Lane led to an evening playing Guitar Hero, and the rest is rock history.
We've chosen to support two charities that mean a lot to us: The National Autistic Society, and Child's i Foundation. Your donation will be split evenly between them.
Jon says:
Of all the charities I've worked with in five years at JustGiving (which is a *lot*) none have come close to Child's i in the brilliance of showing clearly what they do and how they make an impact.
I've been following their work since they began, and what started as professional admiration for the way they were using the web to tell their story has since turned into an emotional attachment to the work they do, and how they let people know about the impact they have.
Lucy Buck, who set up the charity, is someone I have huge admiration for - her energy, vision and passion have built this charity from an idea to a hardworking team making a dramatic impact, in just a few years.
With the help of volunteers, they have built a transitional home for abandoned babies in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. In their words:
"Our mother and baby centre gives vulnerable mothers the support they need to keep their children; our transitional home and family support centre provides quality short-term care for babies; while our placement programme ensures every child in our care grows up in a loving family in Uganda.
Read about their mission here, and be inspired as they inspired me.
Soph says:
I've worked with The National Autistic Society for over a year now, inspired by my sister who has autism, and I've learned so much about how we can support people on the autism spectrum.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people and the world around them. People on the autism spectrum have three main areas of difficulty: social communication, social interaction and social imagination. They may also have sensory sensitivities. Some people with autism are able to live relatively independent lives but others may have accompanying learning disabilities and need a lifetime of support.
And the scale of the need is far bigger than most people think. There are 500,000 people with autism in the UK – that’s 1 in 100.
Here's Richard's story, in his mum's words:
“Richard didn’t want to go to school - he hated going, and things just gradually got worse. He couldn’t cope in the classroom. It was too noisy for him... he used to bang his head on the desk, he used to hit his head against the wall. The other children would find this funny and they would bully him. I didn’t know who to contact; I must have made hundreds of phone calls and eventually I contacted The National Autistic Society.
We were given help by an NAS education advisor. She listened to us endlessly and she supported us all the way. I can’t tell you how wonderful things are now. He’s settled into school. He’s got friends now... he has a little book with their telephone numbers in, and from time to time he rings them up. We can go out as a family. He’s coping."
Find out more about the impact of donations to the NAS here.
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Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
