Bolton Wanderers are delighted to announce their charity partners for the upcoming 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season.
The selected organisations will receive support from the club in the form of a designated matchday to raise awareness, bucket collections and various other means.
Details of each charity meanwhile can be found below.
National Charity
The club’s National Charity in 2017/18 will be Derian House Children’s Hospice.
Derian House is renowned throughout the region as being at the forefront of children’s palliative and respite care. Families who have a child with a life shortening condition can choose from a range of care and support services to meet their family support and end of life care need, either at home, or in Derian House.
The emphasis is on giving support to children and their families and providing them with choices which deliver an approach to care as individual as they are.
Derian House has an enviable reputation in setting exceptionally high standards in children’s hospice care. With a catchment area covering the whole of Lancashire and the South Lakes, it is currently supporting more than 300 families who have a child or young adult suffering from a life shortening condition, as well as providing bereavement support for a further 200 families.
Bolton Wanderers are immensely privileged to provide a service which is so crucial to these children and young people and to be part of a team which supports them and their family through the highs and lows of their illness and beyond.
Local Charity
Our 2017/18 Local Charity is The Zak Vali Foundation. Zak was just 15 years old when he passed away after receiving treatment for cancer. He and his family were all massive Bolton Wanderers fans and following his passing, his family set up the foundation to help others.
Arranging a funeral for a child is something nobody should ever imagine having to do. During this extremely emotional time, financial pressures in paying for a funeral only add to this stress.
The Zak Vali Foundation strives to financially support those who have lost someone under the age of 16 to any type of cancer.
Despite there being numerous counselling and research charities related to losing a child, The Zak Vali Foundation is the only charity set up specifically to deal with expenses that ‘saying goodbye’ to a child can incur.
They are willing to fund a wide variety of services including funeral directors’ costs, a coffin/casket, vehicle, service costs and other associated funeral costs agreed by the trustees.
Since the charity launched in April 2016, they have paid for 15 funerals for families in and around the Bolton area.
The money raised from fundraisers, donations and charity events does not sit in a large pot gathering dust - instead it goes directly to helping local families at what is often the hardest point in their life.
Associate Charity
Our first Associate Charity is Daytrippers Bolton, a parent and carer led registered charity that provides days out and activities for disabled children and their families.
Daytrippers facilitate an assortment of accessible days out and activities in universal settings, allowing families/carers to choose the ones that they feel will be suitable for the child/young person with disabilities.
These range from trips to the zoo, walks in the park, theme parks, Christmas parties, meals in restaurants and caravan holidays.
Children and young people that they work with all have a host of different disabilities, and as a result, they often struggle to cope with attempting short breaks, days out and other leisure activities together.
This is mainly due to their medical, emotional, sensory needs or boundaries caused by physical disabilities and this can lead to children and families becoming lonely, isolated and depressed.
By providing days out and activities in universal settings, Daytrippers provides support and opportunities to increase social interaction for peer groups.
Associate Charity
Our next Associate Charity is Urban Shift, a Bolton based charity working to make a difference in the lives of people both locally and in South Africa.
Through short term mission trips to the Khaya Centre (a community project based in a Johannesburg township), ordinary people have the opportunity to take part in a life changing experience as they seek to change the lives of those less fortunate than themselves.
Engaging young people in local communities to take a massive step often beyond their dreams, they help them to develop skills for life.
Urban Shift aims to give them opportunities to plan and execute a fundraising activity, encourage self-belief in the things they can achieve, broaden their horizons and make a difference.
This is not limited to the young people who actually join the short term mission, but also the wider group of friends and family who help and journey with them to make a difference.
Associate Charity
Our final Associate Charity is The Joshua Wilson Brain Tumour Charity who help children and young people who have brain tumours, post-surgery disabilities and others along Josh’s journey in his legacy.
They help families with advice, direct support, counselling and financial solutions and help directly with what the family needs at the point of referral and ongoing journey, from respite holidays and hospital expenses grants to house adaptations and specialist equipment.
They work with children and their families throughout the Bolton area and have strong links with Royal Bolton Hospital Children’s Ward and HDU where Josh spent a lot of time receiving care and treatment.
They raise awareness of the need to improve changing facilities for young people and adults with disabilities as well as raising awareness amongst the public.
Details of how the club will be supporting these charities will be displayed on Bolton Wanderers' social media channels and website throughout the campaign.