New Year's Day Prout Bridge Project Sea Swim
Dani, Jo R and Rev Jo will be putting on their bobble hats and braving the New Year's Day sea for a sponsored swim to raise money for the Prout Bridge Project. Please support us in this slightly mad endeavour if you can - every donation will make a real difference to the work of the Prout Bridge Project in Beaminster, West Dorset supporting mental health and wellbeing in young people and adults and providing youth clubs, youth work support and activities for children and young people. More info below if you're not familiar with the charity...
Photographic evidence will be provided. If the conditions are dangerous on 1st January we will do the swim as soon as is safe after that date.
THANK YOU!
xxx
What is the Prout Bridge Project?
The Prout Bridge Project charity provides youth work and clubs for children and young people and mental health and wellbeing support and affordable activities for people of all ages in rural West Dorset, operating from the small town of Beaminster.
Our area is beautiful and lots of people come here for their holidays. But it can be a tough place to live for many households with low wages, high housing costs, limited public transport and rural isolation leading to relatively high levels of poverty and social deprivation and poor mental health. Our team of qualified and highly-experienced staff and volunteers are trusted in our community, having built strong relationships over many years. We have an excellent reputation for the positive impact we have, empowering young people, improving mental health for people of all ages and providing affordable activities and opportunities. In the past year we have worked with over 500 young people and adults and provided support around issues including anxiety and depression, abuse, addiction, bullying, relationship, family breakdown and sexual health.
Why are we fundraising?
Like so many organisations Covid-19 has hit us hard and 2020 has been tough. We've lost our income from room hire, activities and our cafe. Understandably some of our supporters have had to cancel or reduce donations. And, most challenging, we lost our base in March when the Prout Bridge building in Beaminster was requisitioned by the County Council as part of their emergency coronavirus planning. At the same time the need for our services is greater than ever. The impact of Covid and lockdown measures on people's lives and mental health has been devastating.
We're determined to keep supporting young people and adults in our community at this challenging time. We've been adapting our services throughout the lockdown. At the moment we offer:
*Youth worker team outreach in the town on Tuesday and Friday nights talking with young people, listening to their fears and providing information and advice
*Targeted one-to-one youth work sessions with young people in need
*A free to use counselling service for people of all ages staffed by 4 counsellors
*A weekly resilience course for one secure bubble of young people not currently in school run by two youth workers
*A youth band for one secure bubble of young people one night a week supported by two youth workers
*Support to the food bank and co-working with other services including the police, local schools, Dorset Family Partnership Zone, and specialist local charities like the Space and the Shores.
We know there is a need for so much more. And we can continue to provide these services and more if we can keep raising enough money to cover our running costs.
www.proutbridgeproject.com