ESE Direct Charity Days

Here's a few of the things that we've been up to over the years.
Following a fantastic couple of years working with Break charity, we simply couldn't resist when the opportunity to sponsor a GoGoHare hopped up! The hares will be the third charity sculpture trail organised by Break and the hares are set to hit the pavements in June 2018. Be the first to hear all the latest news and updates of our hare by following our blog, Twitter and Facebook.

We were extremely proud to work alongside Break as one of their corporate sponsors for 2016.

During the summer of 2015, those local to Norwich will almost certainly have spotted a dragon or two adorning the city streets. Following on from their hugely successful charity trail of GoGoGorillas in 2013, in 2015 Break Charity launched their trail of GoGoDragons. We followed the trail, along with our dragon George and donated £5 to Break for each dragon we visited (all 84!). Along the trail we were fortunate to meet with some of the amazing staff at Break and this cemented our decision to become one of their corporate sponsors for 2016.

About Break

Break was established in 1968 to give families with children with disabilities a period of respite while their children had a break of their very own. The charity has grown and developed immensely over the years, and today provides a range of services to change young lives across four key areas:

Young people in care and moving on,
Children and young people with disabilities
Families in need of support
Children at risk.

Break’s core work is around the provision of children’s homes for Looked After Children in their home Local Authority. Break has six mainstream children’s homes in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and a Therapeutic Fostering Service providing placements to traumatised young people.

Young people leaving Break’s long-term care continue to be supported by the charity with their own 'Moving-On Team' (MOT) - supporting young people from 18 years old into independent living.

Testimonials of Break's success

Here are a couple of examples of how the Moving On Team have helped a young person move on...

Darren was in one of our Children's Homes for 3.5 years. We have been supporting him for the last 4 years, starting with 10 hours per week. Tasks include ensuring he gets ready for College and to kick-start the weekly routine – and to help this one of our support workers would get to him at 7:30am every Monday morning to help him get up and out, knowing that if he started his week well, he would have a more successful week.

Practical support included teaching how to do washing, shopping, using his money, managing anxiety and interaction. Due to his Aspergers, we also had to pick up the pieces when he had relationship break-ups and to teach him what behaviours are acceptable and how to avoid being taken for granted, i.e. financial abuse. He still gets weekly support, but now only two hours, due to his own developed skill set. He still requires support with shopping and Break is overseeing his finances. He completed an Apprenticeship and recently, after being NEET (not in employment or education) arranged his own Apprenticeship, without support, at a local Art Centre.

Sarah was in one of our Homes for 5 years and continued with MOT support after leaving. She has mild learning disabilities. Sarah became pregnant at 19 and there were concerns about her ability to care for her child. Break’s support continued during this period and the concerns dispersed. Baby is now a year old and doing well in his mother's care.

You can read more about Break and the work they do on their website www.break-charity.org

---

Previous ESE charity donations

Between May 2013 and September 2015 we donated £13,532.97 to worthy causes. The charities were selected by the whole team at ESE and the top three for each month were put to the public vote. To the winning charity we gave 5% of our online profits of a nominated day (usually the last Friday of the month).

Here are the charities we have supported in the past.