On Friday 3rd March, we hosted JIGSAW Thornbury’s 10th Birthday Fundraising Ball to celebrate a decade of the life changing impact we have for children and young people with additional needs or disabilities, and their families. We are delighted to announce that this special celebration has raised a record amount for us – over £6,000! A massive thank you to everyone that supported the event.
Our vision is that all children and young people with additional needs or disabilities are empowered to connect, fit in, and thrive. We work with young people up to the age of 25. Everyone can join in at JIGSAW, with or without a diagnosis. We provide friendship, support, compassion, and fun, along with innovative services for the whole family.
“I’d say that JIGSAW is an awesome safe place for all kinds of neurodiverse young people, you can have fun, try new things and all in a very safe place.” says George, long standing young member who currently attends our Youth Club.
We work closely with the community of Thornbury and surrounding areas. Our work enhances inclusion by helping everyone understand the strengths of those with additional needs or disabilities, and the challenges they face.
Our birthday is much more than a 10 year milestone. It is a celebration of the impact we have had for over 850 families who have been members of JIGSAW over that time. A celebration of how we have helped them to join in, grow support for their families, raise awareness about their needs, and improve their wellbeing.
Our 10 year impact story was displayed at the ball through wonderful posters. These will be put up in Thornbury Library between 15th March and 12th April so that the whole community can celebrate with us. Come along to our home in the heart of Thornbury to see our special 10th birthday window display.
This impact didn’t just happen by chance. There are lots of people to thank who have been a vital part of our 10 year story.
Firstly, the team who make it all happen – the trustees, staff, and volunteers of JIGSAW Thornbury past and present who bring a new meaning to the phrase ‘going above and beyond’. Thank you for making JIGSAW Thornbury a place where everyone fits in.
We really couldn’t be here without the person who has made this all possible. Our inspirational, fun, and compassionate Founder, Tor Goodman, has poured so much into making the world a better place for families who have children with additional needs or disabilities.
JIGSAW Thornbury has been fortunate to receive support from and work alongside grant funders, local groups and organisations, and people from the community. Everyone here at JIGSAW Thornbury would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for your invaluable contributions.
Thank you also to our member families. You are what make JIGSAW special. It is lovely to see some of our members who started as pre-schoolers now joining in with activities as teenagers. There are many members who have supported JIGSAW over the years through raising awareness and funds, and volunteering, including parent volunteers, young volunteers, and parent trustees.
We are so grateful to those who sponsored tables, sponsored parts of the event, and donated prizes for our raffle and auction. This support helped to make our 10th birthday fundraising ball a truly special occasion.
We look forward to continuing our connections with you all into the future.
Between April and December last year, we saw 122 families join JIGSAW Thornbury as members. This was a 33% increase in member numbers, which clearly shows a growing need for our work. We are proud to offer 17 different services for our member families, including support groups, youth club, fun activities, wellbeing events, and training and awareness sessions.
We have a film to share with you, which was created by an autistic young person William to capture our unique impact and bring our services to life.
Watch our 10 year impact video
Through the generosity of guests at the ball and support from the community, we were able to raise over £6,000. This will create a big impact for families who need it.
You could help to continue and grow this impact too.
Here is what your support could do…
- £10 could fund 2 t-shirts for Young Volunteers, who will represent our charity and gain skills and confidence to take social action.
It could also fund resources for 5 parents to join our creative wellbeing group. - £100 could fund refreshments and resources for 12 weeks of our developing through the senses group for pre-school children with emerging needs.
Or it could fund a place for a child at our Family Forest Fun activity for a whole year. - £1,000 could fund a pilot of Project 5 for primary school aged children, providing early support for wellbeing and mental health resilience. It could also fund a Family Wellbeing and Support Worker to run our weekly support group for a year.
Our life changing services are reliant on grant funding and help from the local community. Please be generous with your support, so that we can be generous with ours. https://www.jigsawthornbury.org.uk/donate/
There will be more updates coming throughout the year as we continue to tell our 10 year impact story. We hope you enjoy celebrating with us!