Local charities have the chance to take a share of an amazing £128,000 cash giveaway.
The Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of The Northern Echo's parent company, is providing £128,000 in cash to support charities across the country.
The Foundation asked the public to decide where this money should go.
People nominated in their thousands and a shortlist of 10 charities in each region will now be in with a shout of sharing in the £16,000 giveaway.
The public voted for some great charities, one of which being Heel & Toe in County Durham.
Read more: Readers' Choice Cash for Charities: The charities from the North East YOU voted for
Heel & Toe is a charity based in Pelton that provides various free therapies and support for children living with physical/neurological disabilities.
Therapies include physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, occupational therapy, speech & language therapy and massage therapy.
The charity has been going since 2008 and helps children and young people from birth up to 19 years from all over the North East.
Natalie Duncan, fundraising executive for Heel & Toe, said: “We don’t receive any government funding so we rely on paid for services, we offer paid for as well as free services. We rely a lot on fundraising activities and grants.
“On a whole the charity needs to raise £850,000 each year and we support 220 children per week.
“Over the pandemic we lost £350,000 in revenue and we’re still making up for it now and sign ups are slow which we think is probably because of the cost-of-living so it’s really tough.
“During lockdown we received some funding to deliver remote therapies over video link like Zoom as best we could and we also taught parents how to deliver these therapies themselves but of course, it’s not ideal. As soon as we could open again we did and parents and families were really happy to bring their children back.
“During the first part of the pandemic parents also missed out on socialising with other parents in similar situations and it’s important for them to have a break and know that they’re doing something really positive for their child by bringing them to Heel & Toe.”
The charity has an interactive bubble wall panel which unfortunately is no longer working in the sensory room.
As it is a piece of equipment that is loved by the children helped by the charity, the team at Heel & Toe would like to be able to replace it as soon as possible. The cost to get this replaced would be £2,106 including VAT.
Read next:
- Hundreds nominated for Northern Echo charity cash scheme - here's just a few
- Cash for Charities - If U Care Share one of vital services Echo scheme supported
- Cash for Charities: Hearing Dogs for Deaf People - a vital service Echo scheme helped
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