The Benjamin Foundation Monthly Update

The Benjamin Foundation

The Benjamin Foundation is a local charity which helps people across Norfolk and Suffolk to deal with some of the challenges that life throws at them.

Whether it’s the prevention of youth homelessness, helping families to build stronger relationships or providing positive activities for young people with limited opportunities, our work brings hope, opportunity, stability and independence to the people we support.

Bags Of Love From Meet Up

Meet Up is our Youth and Family Centre on Thetford’s Redcastle Furze Estate. Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, its main aim is to provide leisure activity and support services for young people and the local community.

It enables them to access provisions in a safe and informal environment and make positive choices and changes where necessary.

While the centre itself is currently closed for its usual groups and activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Meet Up team have been working on a scheme called ‘Bags of Love’ to let Meet Up members know we are still thinking of them at this challenging time.

The Bags of Love provide activities, such as craft kits and puzzle books, which they can enjoy while staying safe at home.

Learn more about Meet Up and their work in the local community here: https://benjaminfoundation.co.uk/service/meet-up/

Supporting Young People During Lockdown

Thanks to donations, we have been able to create a fund to help the young people we support through this difficult time.

Lucas* has been living at one of our accommodation centres in Norfolk for vulnerable young people for ten months.

A talented musician, he is studying music performance and production and hopes to have a career in the music industry one day. Lucas explains how the new fund has helped him: “I’ve had much more time to study and do college work, which is a good thing, but it has meant that equipment that I store my music and college work on has filled up very quickly. I’ve also been sitting on an uncomfortable chair, which is hurting my back.

“I applied to the fund to buy a new hard drive to increase the storage so I can do more college work and also buy a new chair so I could be more comfortable. I’m just really grateful that people have been able to help me in this way. I actually feel quite bad as I can’t give anything back right now - but the fund has been so helpful.”

Thank you to everybody who has donated.

*Name has been changed.

Can You Support Us During COVID-19?

Our work to prevent local youth homelessness does not stop.

While many people are able to work from home, our colleagues are delivering front-line, essential services to over 100 local, vulnerable young people each day, each night, 365 days a year, giving them a safe place to live, support and the skills they need to forge independent lives.

If you can help us to support more local young people like Lucas, please click here: https://bit.ly/TBF1Covid19

Ready For A “Roar-some” Adventure?

Our regular contributor Tom Hamling, from parenting blog See What Mummy Says, has launched his second rhyming picture book “Only Bones Left Behind”.

His new book, which is one of a series, follows Bella and Jack as they use imaginative play to go on adventures and this time, they’ve brought their pet dogs along!

Only Bones Left Behind finds the characters in a Jurassic land meeting some new friends… dinosaurs!

“The books are written in celebration of the wonderful imaginations that children have, and this time the adventure includes the whole family. Pets, for many, are such an integral part of everyday life, that it seems only right that they make an appearance,” Tom told us.

He added, “The first book has proved really popular so I was determined to meet our original plan of an April launch, despite the current situation potentially delaying it. There is a third book, currently with illustrator Rachel Edwards which should be available from October of this year… and it’s my favourite of the five stories I’ve written about Bella & Jack so I’m particularly excited about that one!” Tom’s books are both available on paperback and eBook from Amazon.

He hopes to get back in the community, performing author visits as soon as it is safe to do so.

Tom’s first picture book, a pirate adventure “It’s Gold We Love Most!” was released in October 2019. His most recent project has been writing a short story starring Bella and Jack to raise money for the Young Minds charity. “We Need To Talk” will be part of a compilation called Re-Think The Rainbow, which will be available on eBook soon. To keep up to date with news from Tom,

visit: www.seewhatmummysays.com

or follow on twitter: @whatmummysaysuk

or Instagram: seewhatmummysays