Our first grant from The Pixel Fund will play a key role in enabling children, with wide ranging additional needs and disabilities, to return to the leisure activities they love, safely and confidently!
‘Lessons Learnt From Lockdown’, the largest report on the impact of covid on disabled children, states the focus of their recovery should be re-engaging socially, getting used to being back in a routine, gaining confidence in peer relationships and having fun.
Our mission is to address the challenges of isolation and exclusion of children and young people, aged 5 to 19 years, with wide ranging additional needs and disabilities, regardless of a formal diagnosis, by enabling them to experience, and benefit from, weekly mainstream leisure activities.
To achieve our objective we proactively recruit, provide specialist training and support to passionate volunteers, who are then carefully matched to the child who require their direct involvement to access opportunities within their chosen youth activity.
We support children with wide ranging additional needs whether or not they have a diagnosis. The children’s complex needs mean they find it difficult to understand and follow instructions whilst also lacking the social skills needed to make friends. We also support a growing number of children with mental health, behavioural and emotional difficulties.
With our support children are empowered to access a wide range of activities of their choosing in order to reach their full potential. Activities include uniformed groups, sports clubs and drama groups. As a result of building strong relationships with their volunteer ‘buddy’, children are given the chance to enjoy all the benefits of play including increased confidence and self-esteem, learning new skills, growing independence and making friends.
Many disabled young people say that leisure and play – after school, in the holidays and at weekends – is the most important missing element in their lives. (Contact a Family – Holidays, Play and Leisure Guide.)
“Doing activities with Me2 Club is one of the few things she enjoys doing. Her anxieties prevent her from joining in most things, but she has come to trust the Me2 Club team and really looks forward to doing things with them.” Me2 Club Parent
Thank you to The Pixel Fund for helping us to meet the growing demand for our unique work in developing a more inclusive community throughout Berkshire.