We are exceptionally proud to be the first charity that Clive Jones, MP for Wokingham, hosted at the House of Commons.
The reception, held in the prestigious Churchill Room, on February 13, was for three very important reasons:
- To give thanks to our long term supporters and to welcome our new charity friends
- To officially acknowledge 10 years since the opening of Our House, our bespoke playcentre for disabled children and their families
- To launch a fundraising drive for a new, larger building where we can support more disabled children, young adults and their families seven days a week.
Passionate speeches by our CEO Jane Holmes our Fundraising Manager Jason McMahon spoke of our future expansion plans and Clive Jones officially acknowledged the success and past achievements of the charity and thanked us for helping him to ‘make Wokingham a better place’.
We welcomed over 80 guests from Wokingham and Reading businesses, schools and organisations plus dignitaries: Alexander Barfield, High Sheriff of the Royal County of Berkshire and Deputy Mayor of Wokingham Borough Council, Cllr Carol Jewell.
They enjoyed refreshments and canapes plus entertainment from Lily, a self-taught visually impaired pianist and performer.
Lily brought the house down with a number of favourite rock, pop and swing songs and was the outstanding embodiment of many of our values: celebration, inclusion, opportunity and equality.
“BFTF is a fantastic charity,” Clive told the room.
“They achieve the gold standard of having a very positive impact on our local area. They do incredible work welcoming over 500 families and over the course of the year working so hard to help young people with disabilities, making their lives better by supporting them to find jobs, to find friends, to find a purpose and to give them hope for the future.
“I’ve been told by the families who use BFTF that they are an absolute lifeline and without them they would otherwise have nowhere else to go. They offer a service that is completely free to ensure that nobody is every turned away and that and their work is just so important. It helps to reduce social care costs by supporting disabled children.”
Clive took a pause during his speech to send out a special message to the many parent carers in the room and within the charity. He acknowledged that we often deal ‘with what must seem the impossible and do this with love and compassion’.
He mentioned working more closely with the charity in the future to improve social care in the area.
Building for the Future’s CEO Jane Holmes said that the charity is ‘honoured to be the first charity event hosted by Clive at the House of Commons’.
“Having the support of the local MP is crucial and we feel very fortunate to have such a compassionate political representative here in Wokingham.
“It’s great to know that he genuinely does care and that he is keen to support our children and young people.”
“We now support over 500 families from the area. But our centre is old and tired and not big enough.
“We are now unfortunately having to turn away families and groups working with disabled children which breaks our hearts. Our provision for young adults - BFTF Plus - has never had an accessible base and now that this service has grown, it’s becoming more and more apparent how much this is needed.
“Our vision for the charity is to continue to grow. Unfortunately, local provision for disabled children and particularly young school leavers is worse than ever, with very, very little in the way of accessible and meaningful activity. As parents of disabled children ourselves, we know only too well what is needed and are very ambitious when it comes to providing it, but we do need help and support.”
Can you help?
We need a new centre for the area’s disabled children and young people.
Demand has greatly outgrown capacity.
After many years of searching we have potentially found a new home and we are in early discussions.
It will be inclusive, more accessible but it is going to more expensive to operate and we need your help.
We fully intend to be in a new premises this year. Jane deserves it, the trustees deserve it, the people we support need it and with the help of yourselves we can achieve that.
If you can help please get in touch with me,
Jason McMahon
Fundraising Manager
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