We're still collecting donations
On the 16th July 2020 we'd raised £656 with 17 supporters in 69 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Our goal is to help the community to be a better community by getting help to those that need it most and by bringing people together.
On the 16th July 2020 we'd raised £656 with 17 supporters in 69 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
The Bettering Life Foundation
The general concept has been made up from bringing together three main ideas. All of the ideas are centred around people bettering their situations. At this moment in time we all know someone who needs or wants to better their situation. That has led us (and no doubt you) to thinking ‘How can we help?’. Well we believe this is a firm platform to build that support base that is so desperately needed.
So, lets start with the ideas....
• A Youth Support Network – A replacement for the Careers Centre. A place where our youth can get support and help to find their way. Help with making the decisions they need to make to enhance their chances of succeeding in life. Help with sourcing employment, interviews, social skills etc etc. The idea was always to be intervention based and really to offer whatever support an individual needs.
The story behind this is, when I was 17 years old I got some wonderful help from the Careers Centre that set me on the path to where I am today. The twenty years in between then and now have had some amazing twists and turns, some that have led to some dark places. Had it not been for the Careers Centre helping me with getting the interviews that led to my apprenticeship when I was 17 years old, I dread to think what my situation would be today. Those wonderful people at the Careers Centre had no clue of the dire situation I was coming from, they helped me after one phone call and one meeting at their offices. That wonderful place doesn’t exist anymore, at a time when we have kids killing kids on our streets for pennies! This is precisely the type of support these kids need, I know that because I used to be one of them!
Our youth needs a support network that isn’t Social Media, at 18 years old when they’re just dropped off into society, not all of them are lucky enough to have a support network – unfortunately even younger for some – that’s where these feral kids are born, right there in amongst all of that isolation, fear, worthlessness. We at The Bettering Life Foundation know that there’s thousands of brilliant young people out there that never get a look in because they’re already lost in a system that easily overlooks them, and without some support they just become even further lost. That’s why we want to bring together all the relevant services to help our young people, more than we already do. It’s within the public interest because the buck stops with society, it’s us who are everyday faced with the reality of what’s going on down at street level. Let’s help our young people better their lives!
• A Community Support Network – A real platform for those that need some support to be able to reach out to get some much needed help. This has been an idea since before COVID-19, but now is an absolute must in terms of how we look after our people. The idea, again, would be to help and support in any way possible – financial, emotional, physical, mental help, whatever it is that the individual needs. This idea is a follow on from the Youth Support Network, after probably two generations of decline in social care and support, there are thousands of adults that needed support in their youth but never received it. Now they’re adults, but those issues they needed support with didn’t go away, they got worse or added to. The Bettering Life Foundation want to build a Community Support Network for those that need it that will grow into a community hub for everyone to benefit from. The goal is to form a Recruitment Agency with the people that get involved with the foundation either by invitation or nomination, with also a view to setting up a Courier Service should the numbers allow. The idea is to drive the community into being a community. With the right interventions, so many more people will be able to better their lives - in turn having a knock-on effect to everyone around them. We already have great professionals as trustees ready to help and advise in the best way they can and we want to get the right people meeting with the right professionals, to really make a difference together. We want to help people help themselves to help all of us.
• Community Based Projects – A hub to engage in community led and based projects. An answer to the requests we’ve been making to our local authorities for decades about what is needed to fix this broken society that we live in. Again, a follow on to both of those listed above, we might not all want to love our neighbours, but we can all agree that society is on a bit of a downward spiral socially to a kind of toxic existence. We all read the news! We all have a part to play in this. We all need to have a say in all things going on in our community in order to feel part of the community. Building a better community, building the imaginary bridges that need to be built to bridge the gaps between all the different sections of society, that is what’s needed to fix our society. The saying goes ‘if it isn’t broken, you can’t fix it!’, well we have a new one, ‘Society is broken and it’s up to us to fix it!’.
Our goal is to build a virtual Community Centre linked with the two services listed above and with links to everything any good human being needs to better theirs and their peoples’ lives. We want to bring together like minded people and organisations that truly and sincerely want to better the lives of the life and soul of communities.
Those are the short and general descriptions of the ideas, the full extents are boundless and we’re about finding the brilliant people that are out there to take it wherever it needs to go to make a difference. So we’ve put those ideas together and accelerated the formation because during these crazy times we’re living in, soooooo many people need help right now! I have personally already given away nearly two thousand pounds to my nearest and dearest and I’m by no means rich, I have just felt compelled to help. We’re all thinking the same thing right now!
This has also had all of us constantly thinking ‘How can we help right now?’.
We (the Trustees) started thinking it would be great if there was a platform for people to be able to nominate others who need help (because as we know, the diehards who deserve it the most won’t be shouting it from the rooftops). Then came the lightbulb moment, we at Tetrad Mechanical are currently working with a software developer for a management system for our Mechanical Installations company, so now we thought how about developing an App for the foundation for people to be able to download and nominate people that need help and also people that can help us getting the help out to people. Then we thought, ‘that’s a brilliant idea for right now!’
After receiving a nomination, we’ll get in touch with all parties, check if the need is genuine, then work on how we can help the person(s). Our aim will be to help in any way we can, within reason, to aid that person(s) in bettering their life or situation.
The foundation has been set up by us at Tetrad Mechanical Ltd and four other trustees who are great people, perfect for the cause. We at Tetrad Mechanical Ltd have started the funding off with £5,000.00 and have also guaranteed the minimum £5,000.00 funding per year. We have also promised that as soon as we can afford more, then we will donate more. We will be working closely alongside the Foundation helping with pathways into recruitment in our industry, the construction industry, along with the businesses mentioned earlier. There will be a fully functional website and App to register interest in helping/volunteering, to nominate people that need help and apply for a membership. The foundation is set up as a not-for-profit association run for the people by its members and trustees. We have submitted an application to register with The Charities Commission (application number: 5160468) and will await response. This will not stop us from helping people though, we aim to start that straight away, we view the application process merely a formality that will take up to 40 days to process. In that time it’s full steam ahead! We are also actively looking for like minded individuals and/or organisations, people or places who want to work together to build a better Britain, to become members and grow our network of support to really make a difference.
Everyone that gets involved with the Foundation in any way, will have an Enhanced DBS check as standard and will follow strict rules, regulations and guidelines set out by the Foundation.
Our founding Trustees are:
• Dean Bailey – Operations Director @ Tetrad Mechanical Ltd
• Sam Morris – Director @ Tetrad Mechanical Ltd
• Nathen Stewart – Director @ Tetrad Mechanical Ltd
• Ben Cooke – Director @ Tetrad Mechanical Ltd
• Natasha Fox – AEW @ Northants Adult Social Services
• Habeeb Ogungbadero – Social Worker and Football Coach
• Benjamin Graham – Fitness Specialist and Youth Worker
• Sebastian Russell – Security Specialist and Youth Worker
Within the founding members we already have some inspiringly brilliant people, we have an Assessment and Enablement Worker for Northamptonshire Adult Social Services and an experienced Social Worker across a number of Counties. All of the trustees are real good people that have come together with a common goal - To make things better!
Also, as was previously mentioned, we at Tetrad Mechanical Ltd already have manpower and vehicles to aid in any way we can. We’ve been extremely fortunate to be working on a private healthcare centre that was contacted by the NHS and asked to press ahead with the construction of the extension, so effectively we’re key workers and with all of our PPE we could also lend our services to anybody else that needs them, we just need to know who needs helping. We have social distancing measures in place, complete with new safety procedures (with PPE) - in light of the COVID-19 pandemic - in order for us to be able to carry out everything we need to whilst safeguarding all parties involved.
With the right help, we can really make a difference!
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