Holidays 4 Heroes
Holidays 4 Heroes is an informal group of people, including serving and retired personnel from all the UK Armed Forces and civilian supporters. We try to assist serving and former military personnel and their families, in a variety of ways that might otherwise fall outside the remit of the better-known Forces Charities. We work together through an Internet web-site used, mainly but certainly not exclusively, by Army personnel (The ARmy Rumour SErvice or "Arrse" for short - the military have a highly sophisticated sense of humour!).
It all started in December 2007, when users of the "Arrse" website and chat-room were made aware of a former serviceman in some financial difficulty and in imminent risk of being evicted from his home. In the simplest of terms, the folks had a whip-round and sorted the problem - within 48 hours the guy and his family were saved from eviction, Christmas groceries and presents for the children were provided, and everyone felt really good.
You might ask at this point why the well-established Service Charities were unable to help. Well, of course they could. However, any assistance would probably have to come at the end of an assessment, by when it could be too late. The informal arrangement, and the speed of the internet, solved the problem faster than a First Class stamp!
Whilst basking in the warm glow of "Good Deed for Christmas", it became clear that the case just resolved must have been just one of dozens. And so the network started networking, as various users of the website explored where other deserving cases might benefit from the rapid response of an internet community. At the same time, various anonymous members of the website community turned out to have some extremely useful talents, and contacts.
And things started happening very quickly!
Rear Party
Rear Party is an unofficial community of military friends and families.
Members are familiy and friends of Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force serving and ex-personnel, as well as overseas military families and those just along for the ride.
The site name is called Rear Party after the military term for the group that stay behind in camp during military operations - providing essential support to the troops at the front.
Surf Action
What we believe we have achieved (although not medically proven), is
that surfing boosts moral, confidence, self esteem and can be
complimentary to ongoing therapy.
Our work has brought smiles to the
faces of each veteran and family member or serving member of the armed
forces. We have shown them that anything is possible and surfing clearly
has benefits to rehabilitation in terms of balance and mental strength.
By
taking families surfing we create a social network between the
children, partners and veterans and this can often be valuable time
spent together, an experience to share or an achievement to be proud of.
What
we would like to achieve in the future is a model based around a
residential centre for veterans and their families. This centre will
provide an environment that allows injured vets to feel safe,
comfortable and lead to a positive recovery both physically and
mentally.
Support them here
Royal Naval Engineers
The Objects of the Society:
The provision of Death or Invaliding Benefits for its Members.
The promotion of the social, intellectual and general welfare of its members conformably with the MOD (Navy) Regulations.
AFF are often pivotal in achieving improvements for Army families such as changes to Government and military policy and changes to the delivery of how things are provided for families. The AFF does not do this by itself; our role is to highlight problems to the chain of command or service providers, and to work with them and other agencies to improve the support they provide to Service families.
AFF also provides a signposting service to help you find the right
person to speak to, as well as providing useful information for Army
families through its website and magazine, the AFF Families Journal
The Army Cadet Force is one of the UK’s oldest, largest and most
successful youth organisations. We have a long and proud history of
preparing youngsters for all walks of life and encouraging an active
involvement in local communities. We have 44,000 cadets and 8000 adult
instructors in over 1700 Cadet Centres spread across the UK.
What we do
- We develop young people physically and mentally, improving self-confidence, teamwork, friendship and leadership. We welcome cadets of all abilities and backgrounds that are able to access the majority of our activities. We also aim to develop a sense of community in our cadets.
- We provide a wide diversity of fun, exciting and adventurous opportunities.
- We are a gateway to recognised vocational qualifications from the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to BTEC First Diplomas which can help in working and school life.
uk4u Thanks! is a registered charity which provides Christmas boxes
full of presents (affectionately known as the 'square stocking') as
a gift from the nation to all those serving in the forces overseas away
from their families on Christmas Day.
We ensure that all Servicemen and women who are serving away at Christmas receive a box, whether they are in the Army, Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force, and wherever they are in the world.
The initiative was inspired by the 1914 Christmas Gift Fund, established by Princess Mary, the daughter of King George V. You can find out more about the first Christmas box here. The Duke of Westminster is Patron of our charity.
In 2008, thanks entirely to generous donations from members of the public and our sponsors, uk4u was able to send 24,500 Christmas gift boxes to UK Armed Forces personnel on duty overseas or in hospital over the Christmas period because they have been injured on operations. The charity does not receive any public funds, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) supports the charity with advice and guidance on the number of boxes required and the contents. It also assists with the massive logistic operation it takes to deliver the boxes in time for Christmas Day.
The MoD help us by sending the boxes in any transport going out to operational theatres which has spare capacity. It is important that the boxes are not sent through the British Forces Post Office system, so there is no chance that they will 'clog up' the supply chain and delay parcels from families and friends getting to their loved ones.
|
