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Supported Eastside Charity 2011-2012 |
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| “Special Parents is a support group for parents of children with special needs of all ages. A place to discuss the highs and lows, gather and offer advice and experience with other parents, or to relax with people that understand.”. | ||
In 2008, Michelle Boyd, a family outreach support advisor and parent of an autistic child, and Elizabeth Ainge, parent of an autistic child, felt that there was a huge gap in the support field for parents of special needs children and decided to start an informal meet up once a week which is now known as ‘Special Parents’. Locally there weren′t any support groups for parents where they could meet and discuss the events of their lives and share information and advice with regard to applying for benefits and statements of education. |
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| In 2009 Rachel Moran took over the running of the group with Michelle′s support when she went on maternity leave and we made some changes to the group. They decided that there was a need to advertise the group more as they knew there were parents that wanted the support. They just needed to reach them to tell them about Special Parents. They already had the support of the local Children′s Centre at Willingdon Trees who had allowed them to use their premises to hold the group and they put them in touch with other organisations to advertise the group and spread the word. | ||
| In July 2009 they received the first grant of £150 from SNAPPS, this was a huge boost and allowed them to purchase equipment and materials to promote and advertise. They also received a lot of advice from them about setting up the group. This let to Special Parents setting up a committee to allow them to handle financial matters efficiently and also take care of running the charity. Since their humble committee was formed consisting of a Chairperson (Rachel Moran), Secretary (David Moran) and Treasurer (Dannii Courtier-Taylor), they have had to enlarge the committee to meet the demands of the group and have been joined by Nicole Sewell and Carolyn Francis who are parents of children with additional needs, Marie Baker, the founder of Dravet Syndrome UK and Samantha Tuppen who runs a local business. The committee now meets at regular intervals and minutes from these meetings are produced and available for members to view on request. | ||
Fundraising is a very important aspect of Special Parents, without the fundraising we wouldn't be able to provide monthly support meetings or special events for our families.
Each year we hold a successful quiz night at a local venue with a prize raffle, this has proved so popular that we had to repeat it! We also hold a sponsored event each year and the type of event varies as we take suggestions from our members.
Throughout the year we also hold smaller events such as fetes or home parties and our members also help us by raising funds. We are always looking for funding to enable us to continue to offer the support and meet the groups aims. If you have any ideas for fundraising or would like to sponsor the group please contact us. Everything helps no matter how much and it will always be used effectively.
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Group Meetings
Magnolia Drive, Eastbourne. Creche is available by booking in advance (01323 464160)
Eastbourne. Please note there are no childcare facilities at this meeting.
Peacehaven. Creche is available by booking in advance (01273 582511) If you would like to know more about this charity or find out how you can help do you bit to allow it to carry on it’s vital role in the community please visit The Special Parents website for more information. |
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