Easter donations at Bakers
Baker Labels have made some egg-citing donations just in time for Easter. As well as the local charities we support annually, we wanted to do something a little egg-stra and invited staff to nominate charities that were close to them.
This Easter we have donated over £50,000 to local charities
Funding was sent to SNAP (Special Needs and Parents), Kids Inspire, Aching Arms, Wipe Away Those Tears, Challenging MND, Billericay Foodbank and Brentwood Foodbank. In addition to this, the charities chosen by staff include Little Havens Hospice, Cure4George/ Duchenne UK, The Craig Tyler Trust, Ataxia UK, Dean Weedon, Young Lives vs Cancer, and Phoenix FM.
Our team at Bakers work hard for the company’s success and it’s thanks to them that we are in a position to be able to support so many charities through the Bakers Foundation. To support good causes nominated directly by our staff is incredibly rewarding. Those that nominated a charity tell us why below.
In 2011 my sister Katie was just 9 years old when she was diagnosed with a tumour. Two weeks after diagnosis our family was told about Little Havens. My mum was very apprehensive at first because we assumed that hospices were a place that people went to die. We couldn’t have been more wrong. LH is a magical place that kids get to be kids and families get much needed support and respite. They supported us on and off for over four years. Katie was taken back to Little Havens for end of life care and passed away 3 days later. The support that LH gave my family was invaluable.
Little Havens will always hold a very special place in my heart and every year they invite families to a very emotional yet poignant day to remember all the children who are no longer with us.
Thank you so much for supporting this charity.
Cure4George supports Duchenne UK a charity that has one clear aim to end Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Duchenne UK is a charity extremely close to my family’s heart as George (aged 15), one of my 3 younger brothers was diagnosed with a muscle wasting condition called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), in 2016 at the age of 8.
George uses a power wheelchair full time and has recently started a trial with GOSH to try and slow the conditions progression and extend his life expectancy, but there is currently no cure for DMD. George is an inspiration to us all and has done so much to raise awareness and trying to improve the lives of disabled people with accessibility to sports, with George enjoying playing powerchair football on the weekends.
Thank you so much, it is really appreciated by me and all of my family.
I nominated the Craig Tyler Trust because this charity was made in memory of my cousin Craig who battled with his mental health. The Craig Tyler Trust is a mental health and suicide prevention charity based in Basildon Essex. The charity was founded in 2019 after losing my cousin Craig to suicide. We have drop-in sessions for mental health support, wellness activities and discovery to recovery as well as a suicide bereavement group. We are lucky enough to have 8 volunteers who are available around the clock to help those who are struggling. We hug the hurt, befriend the lost and love the lonely.
This donation will help us help more people struggling, thank you so much!
I nominated Ataxia UK as they are leading the research into a critical drug trial that will slow down or even halt the effects of Friedreich’s Ataxia. My niece Eilidh was diagnosed with this genetic, degenerative condition a few years ago and at 15 is now unable to walk unaided. There is no cure for Friedreich’s Ataxia but with the support of Ataxia UK, Eilidh’s condition is monitored and she receives expert help managing the symptoms.
Thank you so much for supporting Ataxia UK, it means so much to me and my family.
I nominated Dean Weedon as I think it is amazing what he does. My mother-in-law had Muscular Dystrophy and sadly passed away from cancer last year. We knew that she wouldn’t have wanted us to throw her adapted items away if it could help someone else. We found Dean through a family member, he came and collected everything that could be reused for us and distributed it to those in need and who couldn’t afford to buy it themselves. Dean helps so many people covering many areas, with many different needs.
I feel like he really deserves this, thank you for supporting him.
At Young Lives vs Cancer we support children and young people with cancer, and their families, helping them find the strength to face everything cancer throws at them. We work hard to ensure families have everything the need to get through cancer, whether that’s financial support, someone to talk to when times are tough or somewhere to stay close to their child when they are in hospital miles away from home. In the past year, in Essex alone we have supported 216 young people with cancer, and their families, referred from these hospitals, and provided 192 grants worth £39,275 to assist local families with the sudden costs that come with a cancer diagnosis.
Phoenix FM is a community radio station serving the areas of Brentwood and Billericay, England on 98.0FM and online, covering an area of over 140,000 people. Phoenix FM would like to run a Mental Health Podcast, they feel there is a real need and appetite for this amongst the many mental health support organisations and charities locally, which has been reinforced from meetings with The Community Tree who have around 20 local mental health organisations as their partners, all interested in featuring.
Bakers also continues to support other local charities.
Thank you for your incredibly generous donation. This fantastic donation will be a huge help in providing a variety of personalised advice, strategies, information and activities. Thanks to you, local families who have a child or young person with any additional need or disability can continue to rely on SNAP.
We would like to share some feedback with you, from families who attend SNAP, on the impact our services have made to them:
“When we moved here, my child was in the process of getting a diagnosis. Never in a million years did I plan or know that the village I would need would be right on my doorstep. You have wiped my tears, educated me, empowered me, challenged me. You’ve given me new friends in the other mums who just ‘get it’. And although we have our up and down days, we are thriving because of your support… Everything you do changes the world for us.”
It is only thanks to wonderful supporters like you that we are able to be here for so many local families.
Thank you again for this donation, we have quite a few funding gaps next year, so this is a great help.
Kids Inspire provide mental health and trauma recovery support for children, young people and their families. Through a range of therapeutic and community activities they promote resilience, self-awareness, and relationship building to empower more positive life choices. Kids Inspire’s recent statistics show they have reached 7344 individuals through therapy, consultation, community engagement and training.
Thank you so very much for this wonderful news. We are ever so grateful for your ongoing support, it really does mean a great deal to us. I am not sure if you were aware already, but the Dads’ support books you helped us get to print are proving extremely popular with midwives all over the UK. In just one month we’ve donated more than 1000 copies to hospitals!
We are also seeing bereaved dads attend the online support group after having been gifted the book by their midwife. We are just so pleased that bereaved Dads are being ‘seen’ and their grief acknowledged. It is thanks to funding from the Baker Foundation that this has been made possible.
It means so much to me to have the support of your local business.
Thanks to your unbelievably kind and generous donation, I have been able to grant the following wish.
“My daughter is currently in Great Ormond Street hospital she was diagnosed with Pierre robin sequence she also has a cleft pallet and club foot. She has just left picu where she was ventilated she was using all her energy just to breath and was still at her birth weight at 8 weeks old she ended up having a tracheostomy which has been amazing she’s now developing and gaining weight! We are now undergoing all the training that comes with this which is a lot! I’ve been talking to other mums about their experiences and how I can make my life easier I also have a little boy who is 3 we are a family that love to go out. I’ve been recommended a bugaboo pram with the storage on the side to put the suction machine and emergency case in and also a madela Toni suction machine as light weight and easy to take out in a bag. However, both of these are well out of our price range! Help with either of these would be so appreciated by our family I think it’s such a lovely thing that you do for families.”
Challenging MND was founded by Alex Gibson, diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2018. MND is a devastating neurological condition that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control movement. It can leave people with severe disability, including the inability to walk, talk, and even breathe. There is currently no cure for MND, and it is a terminal illness. Every day, 6 people are diagnosed with MND, and all 6 people will die from MND. Alex perseveres through physically and mentally challenging events each year to raise funds and awareness for this disease.
Our mission is to ensure we give every individual living with MND, including family carers, access to the personal and bespoke support we offer. We want to help create precious memories that will allow loved ones to cherish forever.
Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you so much, we really appreciate such a generous donation.
Billericay Foodbank was established in 2018, they work with the most vulnerable members of our community. Unfortunately, each year more people are finding themselves unable to afford to feed their families and having to depend on foodbanks. It is vital that foodbanks have the support of their local community especially since the cost of living crisis.
Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.
Brentwood Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust group who’s main aim is to stop UK hunger. Between April 2022 and March 2023, food banks in our network provided almost 3 million food supplies to people in crisis, a 37% increase on the previous year. Foodbanks rely on the support of their local communities to support people in crisis.
Bakers Foundation
To view how Bakers supports charities and the community click below