At FAiR we're tackling loneliness and isolation through community connection. We've started off with our free monthly social 'Tilling, Tea and Cake' which provides an inclusive and welcoming social setting, as well as providing 'early intervention advice' from community and VSCE professionals on Health & Wellbeing. In this way, we aim to bring Friendship, Fellowship and Fun to individuals who may be feeling cut off from their communities, an approach which also supports:
- Resilience against the cost of living crisis.
- Face-to-face access to support for members of our community who may be digitally disadvantaged.
- The development of vibrant community hubs at Tilling and within Rye.
- Socialising and finding out about other activities and events within the community.
- Promoting safer and inclusive neighbourhoods.
- Creating rewarding community volunteering opportunities in the Rother area.
This fundraiser ~ 27th May to 30th June 2024
Tilling, Tea and Cake is just the start of our regular community activities, we have more planned but in order to keep services free to our community users, constant fundraising is required. So, we've set up this fundraiser to help us grow our free community offering to the next level.
Want a peek at what we're planning?
- A face-to-face and telephone befriending service (we're currently in the process of setting this up).
- Community outings, creative, entertaining, stimulating and FUN activities.
- Facilitating specific health and wellbeing befriending and support groups.
- Digital drop-ins and digital befriending to support digital inclusion in our communities.
And that's where this fundraiser comes in!
The exciting part ... we've been accepted for an opportunity with the East Sussex County Council's Community Wellbeing Fund, to support the ongoing work and future aims of our project!
The fun part ... the ESCC Wellbeing Fund opportunity is a match-funded fundraiser! We've set up this donation page and ESCC could donate 50% of our fundraising total, by matching every donation made by our friends and supporters in the community.
The interesting part ...the 'double-donation' matched-funding offer includes some details and mini-goals, to help things along, like:
- Receiving donations from 25 unique supporters (minimum) - now for us this is interesting as well as exciting, because it means we'll be able to see just how many supporters there are for our project, and how many people would like to get involved.
- Using this Crowdfunder page, we have to achieve 100% of our stated fundraising target in order to secure the funds and have just one month to do it in! Live match funds will count towards our target but if we don't achieve our aim, we don't achieve the double-donations! So ... is our target realistic? Do we have a 'FAiR' chance at success? There's just one month to see and we hope that our community are with us, as we work together to support each other!
Not sure who we are or why you might like to support us?
No problem, we're quite a new charity so it's understandable that you may not have heard of us yet. Please check out our website and our social media, but in the meantime, here are a couple of recent testimonials:
‘Just every now and again, we have the extraordinary opportunity to engage with people who tirelessly and selflessly make a difference to the lives of others. I have been privileged to be involved with an amazing couple. Chris Pollard and Miriam McGuirk, who are the epitome of what we aspire to be. Their work to create Friends Altogether in Rother is amazing. We are blessed to have such passionate and imaginative folks in our wonderful Town of Rye. Their vision to create a vehicle to provide a safe and encompassing space really resonates, is appealing and provides an opportunity to engage and flourish. When I first encountered Chris, I thought great idea, but how would it work. Well, colour me impressed, it works. May they continue to achieve all they can and enrich the lives of the residents of Rye and Rother. Much appreciated ‘ Rye and Rother Cllr Cheryl Creaser.
‘Well done, and although I haven't been involved, yet…, it is so very worthwhile, and needed, for so many people in this busy, and sometimes hard, world of ours – thankyou’ MC – Rye and Winchelsea chat.