Feed our Fund

Thank you for visiting Feed our Fund. Our crowdfunding campaign has now closed, but if you would like to make a donation, you can do so by clicking the "donate" button. Please note that rewards will not be sent if you make a donation after 2pm on 8 July 2021.

For those that did opt for a reward before 2pm on 8 July 2021, rewards will be sent in the coming weeks. Please contact us if you haven't received your reward by 8 August. Thank you for your support!

Thank you for supporting Feed our Fund - a crowdfunding campaign based around healthy eating and wellbeing to raise money for The National Brain Appeal's Small Acorns Fund. This fund gives front-line staff at The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery the chance to apply for funding to fast-track smaller scale projects that will have a big impact and benefit to patients.

The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery is one of the world’s leading centres for the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with neurological and neuromuscular conditions. 

Great change often comes from small ideas and these need nurturing. Our Small Acorns Fund exists to champion new initiatives or ways of working that are outside the current scope of NHS budgets but could make a big impact for patients. 

Thanks to our Small Acorns Fund we have managed to make a difference to so many patients. Almost 100 projects have been funded since we started seven years ago. However, this fund needs feeding so we can carry on supporting the innovative ideas that Queen Square staff bring to us.

A number of chefs and restaurants have worked with us on this initiative and there are a range of Brain Food products and experiences that you’ll get as a reward for donating! These include:

• Brain Food e-book, which contains 28 recipes from top chefs such as Thomasina Miers, local restaurants to Queen Square, and staff at NHNN and The National Brain Appeal 
• Brain Food tea towel  
• Brain Food tote bag  
• Raffle ticket entry to our Brain Food raffle full of healthy, inspiring and brain friendly experiences and prizes*

Our aim is to raise £10,000 so we can continue to respond effectively and quickly to projects ranging from £500 to £5,000 put forward by staff at Queen Square.

Without your help we wouldn’t be able to support projects like:

• Brainwave - a support group for carers and patients with Parkinson's Disease who have undergone deep brain stimulation. This provides the opportunity to exchange and access reliable information and support with regards to the symptoms of deep brain stimulation. 
• Funding 3D printers to help train staff to treat patients needing complex brain and spine surgeries. These printers can print 3D models that replicate patient-specific anatomy and disease directly from MRI & CT scans with exceptional accuracy in a cost effective manner.
• Voice banking for patients with progressive neurological conditions who are likely to experience severe communication changes. Specialist equipment is used to record a pre-designed list of up to 3,000 phrases onto a website, which is then used to create a synthetic voice, sounding similar to the patient's own voice. As the disease progresses and patients are no longer able to speak, they can continue to communicate by using their personalised synthetic voice. 
• An eight-week mindfulness course for neurosurgeons to help reduce burnout, stress and anxiety. Neurosurgeons in particular face unique challenges in dealing with highly complex patients and regularly shouldering the consequences of life or death decisions. Mindfulness can provide some relief from challenging feelings.
• BrainBuddy - a support network for patients, family and friends facing brain surgery. This network provides practical, balanced guidance and support from a collaboration of patient experiences and professional knowledge.
• Funding 'Fiddlemuffs' which provide sensory stimulation for patients with rapidly progressing and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative conditions. Due to lack of mobility as these conditions progress, patients can become agitated leading to skin picking, scratching and probing as they attempt to elicit sensory stimulation. 'Fiddlemuffs' can provide sensory stimulation, leading to improved mood and contentment, less restlessness and agitation and improved relationships with family members and friends.
• Analysis of amino acids in fruit and vegetables to improve the diets of those with rare Inherited Metabolic Diseases. Patients with Inherited Metabolic Diseases often have complex dietary regiments as their only means of treatment. Some of the dietary regiments require patients to limit specific amino acids, as excessive intakes can lead to neurotoxicity. The knowledge of amino acid contents of specific food is vital, as this can improve the safety of dietary treatment, preventing the risk of neurological harm or complications and lead to improved food choice and quality of life.

There are so many more projects that we want to fund - thank you so much for supporting this campaign so we can continue to provide funding for our Small Acorns Fund. 

* Please see below for a full list of prizes you can win in our prize draw:

• Spa day for two at The Laboratory Spa, Muswell Hill, London. The Spa Day Retreat package priced at £150.00 (x2) allows full use of the club’s facilities, including the gym, group fitness classes, mind/body classes, wet facilities & relaxation room. A light lunch from the juice bar and light refreshments are also included as well as a one hour relaxing full body massage. 
• David Mellor black handle starter knife set, worth over £150
•  £100 gift voucher for Divertimenti cookery shop
• Online cookalong experience for up to 6 people with iCookIndian chef, Amarpal Harrar
•  A 28 day, intensive nutrition and coaching programme designed to give you a kickstart towards your health goals and get you feeling energised, happy and vibrant with nutritionist Michaela Newsom from BrainFit Nutrition
• A 30 minute Breakthrough session with Nutritionist Michaela Newsom from BrainFit Nutrition, including an action to get you started & a copy of the 'Boost your Mood' eBook.
• £50 voucher for Dishoom restaurant
• Mixing bowl from Gill Wing Cookshop and a range of healthy snacks donated by Waitrose, Holborn
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Terms & Conditions:

• Open to anyone (over the age of 18) within the UK  
• Entries will be accepted between 2.30pm BST Thursday 10 June 2021 and 2.30pm BST Thursday 8 July 2021.
• To enter the prize draw, select one of the reward tiers including one or more entries into the draw. Pledges which are donations without selecting a reward, or selecting a reward not including an entry into the draw will not be entered into the prize draw.
• Entrants can pledge to this campaign without entering the prize draw.
• Following the closing date, the winners will be chosen at random and contacted before 26 July 2021. They will be contacted by email on how to claim their prize. If the winner does not respond within 7 days of the initial email being sent, the next winner will be chosen at random and emailed within 7 days. Entrants are advised to check their spam folder from 26 July onwards to avoid missing notification. 
• Prizes will aim to be shipped to the winner within one week of the winner notifying us by email that they accept the prize and at the same time, providing a valid postal address and telephone number.
• By entering this draw, all entrants consent to the use of their personal data by The National Brain Appeal only for the purposes of the administration of this draw and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented. We will process your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy.
• The National Brain Appeal will keep entrants’ personal details for a reasonable time so that it can communicate with the winners and send any prize that an entrant has won, to verify that these rules have been complied with, and for accounting purposes. 
• By entering into this draw, each entrant consents to these terms and conditions.