Fundraising & Donations
Us in a Bus is a Registered Charity (number 1088570). We depend entirely upon income generated from providing sessions with clients, training and consultancy fees and the generosity of private and corporate donors.
We have recently, successfully replaced one of our vehicles with a new Citroen Berlingo, help with a very generous donation from Raynes Park Former Pupil's Society. Our ‘buses’ (actually they are vans) play a vital part in allowing us to visit our clients and carry appropriate equipment from site to site (see Charles' sponsored bike ride details below).
A photo of Barbara Green, actress Julie Graham and the mayor of Reigate and Banstead unveiling a new Us in a Bus van.
Recent fundraising activity and donations include:
- Charles' bike ride, click on "charles" below for further details
- A sponsored walk by Mrs Freddie Crane, who took part in "JUST WALK" and raised £400, for more information follow this link: http://www.acrossthedivide.com/index.php/products/event/p-00251.html
- Two bridge clubs in the Guildford area
- We ran a successufl quiz night in November, we may well do it again!
- Waitrose in Dorking and Fleet
- Donations in memory of Mr Norman Parker
- A legacy
- Anonymous donations from individuals
- Proceeds from a raffle run by a hot air balloon company, for more information follow this link: http://www.highroadballoons.co.uk/
- Takings from a series of punk gigs staged by young people in Dorking
- A donation from Spirit Art and Design Ltd., a Design Publicity company, for more information follow this link:http://www.spiritartanddesign.co.uk/
- A donation from Redhill Redstone Rotary Club
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"MEET JOE"
The story of a man with profound learning disabilities
HIS STORY 1948 - 2009
Click on the "MEET JOE" link below:
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A big thank you from Us in a Bus for your sponsorship
Charles completed his bike ride and raised £3,000
Below is Charles' account of his bike ride:
Fundraising cycle ride,September 2009
To mark the 20th year of Us in a Bus`s work, a programme of events was put together to both publicise Us in a Bus and the work it does with those with multiple and profound learning disabilities, as well as ideas for raising funds.
In January of 2009 I had a chance conversation with our fundraising officer and the planning of the ride started. The ride was to be from East to West, across the broadest part of England, from Lowestoft, in Suffolk to St David`s in Wales; to be precise, Ness point in Lowestoft to St Justinian`s, just west of St David`s on the Pembrokeshire coast.
Over several months lists were prepared and the straightest possible route worked out, in detail. The lists of possible sponsors, from bicycle shops to private individuals and local companies were produced and each and everyone sent an appeal letter and flier. All local radio stations and newspapers across the country had been contacted and even sent, just before the start date, the informative item published by the Dorking paper, in the Mirror group, in an attempt to make it as easy as possible for them to carry the story. Fliers and letters were designed and sent out well in advance of the planned September 7th start date, and by August every inch of the way had been planned as had the 6 nights` accommodation, five of which had been very generously offered free by various B&B establishments.
The response from my friends and acquaintances, and people familiar with Us in a Bus, was even better than expected as was the weather and the pleasure of undertaking the trip. Leaving Lowestoft on Monday 7th September at 10.30 and arriving in St Davids on Saturday 13.00 was the plan and worked to the minute – had it not been for the taking advantage of the prearranged free accommodation which involved stopping mid-afternoon on two days, the 400 miles could have been achieved in four and a half days and St Davids reached at lunchtime on the Friday. I did not know that as I left, past the gas works on the docks with a cloudy sky beginning to break up, but after just a few minutes in the improving weather and finding myself in the Suffolk countryside, I sensed that all was going to be fine. I had got myself back to being fairly fit in the weeks leading up to my ride and as the miles went by under my wheels my spirits began to soar. I spent the following five days talking to sheep, birds and cows, as well as some very kind and charming people “on the road”. I cycled through spectacular scenery, be it flat or, later, hilly and all the land was alive with busy farmers bringing in the harvest. Everywhere I looked could have been turned into a painting and the bustle of Surrey seemed a million miles away and probably even in a different land. I travelled some roads that appeared only on maps, through areas where all direction signs had been painted pale grey, over open heathland. I encountered so little traffic most of the journey that arriving in, St Davids, small but a tourist attraction, was a bit of a shock. I had a few rain drops fall on me one evening, rode against punishing wind across the Fens and climbed some gruelling hills but the whole journey was nothing like I had expected it to be but everything I had hoped for.
I returned safely, healthy and tanned and the £2500 target was exceeded by more than £500. The money raised will be used to help us to continue in our work and my thanks go out to everyone who helped me, with a donation, accommodation or support.
The business world had been plunged into gloom at the start of the year by fears of potentially the worst recession in recent history and so, possibly because of that, the response from local companies, large and small, was uniformly negative. No funds were donated at all by the commercial sector, though a local bicycle shop did reduce prices for vital items quite substantially.
The amount of publicity achieved was also minimal. The Us in a Bus website did post a “blog”, my daily telephone calls were written up but this site reaches a limited number of people. One bicycle shop in Dorking, one in Diss, Norfolk, and one supermarket in Dorking displayed the Us in a Bus appeal flier but only the one paper printed anything and no radio coverage was offered at all. This was the biggest disappointment of the whole project and I cannot help but think that had the media cooperated that bit more, the result could have been completely different. Had the publicity we had hoped for been forthcoming, the lives of those living with profound learning disabilities could have been altered in a more substantial way.
Charles T Pollard, Us in a Bus, February 2010.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CHARLES' CYCLE TRIP CLICK "Charles" BELOW
If you would like to find out more about fundraising then please contact us. Or if you would like to make a donation please click here or use the button below
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