Looking back at our charity work
Since its inception in 1987, CAWC International has donated over £410,000 to a variety of charities in the Chilterns Area. Currently, CAWC International is delighted to be supporting the charity, Carers Bucks. We will be raising money to support 1,800 young people aged 5-25 throughout the Buckinghamshire area who give unpaid support and care to their loved ones.
We are very proud of our fundraising efforts for a wide range of charitable organizations in the Chilterns area.
2020– 2023
Motor Neurone Disease Breathing Support Project
From 2020 – 2023 we supported the Motor Neurone Disease Breathing Support Project, which was delivered by members of the Palliative Care Service based at Florence Nightingale Hospice, which is Buckinghamshire NHS Trust. The project had the full backing of the Chiltern Branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Even though our money raising activity was reduced due to the Covid pandemic, we managed to raise over £67,000 for this wonderful project.
The money we raised helped in a variety of ways, including:
- 1,300 patient support interactions.
- 79 additional initial assessments (anticipated 20).
- Closer links with the palliative care and wider healthcare teams.
- Symptom control; advance care planning and end of life care in the patient’s preferred place of care.
- Extra 11.5 hours per week of Specialist Physiotherapist’s time.
As a result of CAWC’s support, the value of this project has been recognised by the NHS and will now be fully funded by them. The impact on the project team as healthcare professionals, who have been enabled to improve the quality of care for patients and to embed a new service, ‘is beyond words.’ The role will be developed and made more resilient in the future, with other physiotherapists and Allied Healthcare Professionals being trained to expand the service
Sue Eddy, Senior Physiotherapist responsible for delivering the project, said, ‘I can’t tell you how fabulous you all are – you have been so kind, welcoming and committed to doing so much good. The amazing families touched by MND that we work with, are so appreciative of the care that your support has enabled. I am hugely humbled and privileged to have been part of the project, that you have scattered your special stardust on.’
Dr Faeqa Hami DA FRCP, Consultant in Palliative Medicine for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, who led the Breathing Support project said: ‘the project team commented a number of times over the course of this project that the CAWC was an inspirational group, with energy and vibrancy which was contagious, and kept us, the clinicians motivated in delivering this project to the highest quality with meaningful outcomes for our patients.’
Motor neurone disease (MND) describes a group of diseases that affect the nerves (motor neurones) in the brain and spinal cord that tell your muscles what to do. With MND, messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles. This leads the muscles to weaken, stiffen and waste.
MND can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe. Some people also experience changes to their thinking and behaviour. However, MND affects everyone differently. Not all symptoms will affect everyone, or in the same order. Symptoms also progress at varying speeds, which makes the course of the disease difficult to predict.
MND is life-shortening and there is no cure. Although the disease will progress, symptoms can be managed to help achieve the best possible quality of life. There is a 1 in 300 risk of getting MND across a lifetime. It can affect adults of any age, but is more likely to affect people over 50. MND affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time.
For more information about MND, please visit: mndassociation.org
2017 – 2020
Community First Responders (CFR), part of the South Central Ambulance Charity
From 2017-2020, in a change of approach, we supported just one charity – the Community First Responders (CFR), part of the South Central Ambulance Charity. We raised over £60,000 which helped fund a new Dynamic Response Vehicle (DRV) for the Charity.
The Community First Responders have a critical role in supporting the emergency services in the area. Normal CFR duties include getting to patients with a variety of life threatening illnesses as quickly and safely as possible. The new DRV will facilitate this process. CFR’s are typically called out to patients suffering from heart attacks, strokes and many paediatric issues. Their role is to get to the patient, help stabilise them and take observations while the Paramedics are mobilised. This not only helps improve the survival chances of a patient, particularly one suffering a Cardiac Arrest, but also speeds up the assessment by the full time paramedics when they arrive on the scene and then ultimately the transfer to hospital, thus reducing the stress on the ambulance service.
Robert Gill – Co-ordinator for The Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross – said, ‘CFRs in the Chalfonts give 100s of hours a month as volunteers to the community, and its only with the kindness and generosity of our supporters that this continues. We thank CAWC so much for their contribution and are proud to have your Logo on the DRV.’
For more information about the South Central Ambulance Charity, please click here: scas.charity
2016 – 2017
Epilepsy Society and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity
In 2017 we donated over £25,000 to the Epilepsy Society and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.
Up until 2017, each year CAWC would sponsor two charities, the Epilepsy Society and one other chosen by the membership from a range of applications.
Epilepsy Society
CAWC International had a long and productive relationship with the Epilepsy Society raising over £100,000 for this cause.
The Epilepsy Society connects and supports people through a range of charitable services, including a confidential epilepsy helpline, online epilepsy forum, epilepsy campaigns and awareness raising, epilepsy information, website, magazines and e-newsletters, and epilepsy information clinics in hospitals.
Brigid Gardiner, the charity’s Director of Fundraising and Marketing said, ‘The Chilterns American Women’s Club has been very generous in raising money for people with epilepsy over the years. It is only with support such as this that we are able to provide medical research and services such as our helpline, information leaflets, website and forum.’
For more information about the Epilepsy Society, please click here
Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity
Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’ Charity supports seriously ill children and young people who have long-term serious conditions that are often overlooked like Sickle Cell, Epilepsy, Rare Diseases, Neuro Muscular and Undiagnosed Conditions. Seventy-nine Roald Dahl Specialist Nurses care for over 21,000 seriously ill children across the UK. The money raised for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity contributed to these specialist children’s nurses who provide invaluable support for children.
For more information about Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, please click here.
2015 – 2016
The Pepper Foundation and the Epilepsy Society
In addition to the Epilepsy Society our chosen charity for 2016 was The Pepper foundation. We raised over £15,000 for the two organizations.
The Pepper Foundation is a registered charity which funds the hospice at home children’s nursing team managed by Rennie Grove Hospice Care. Based in Tring, Herts, they focus on helping terminally ill children and their families receive specialist paediatric palliative care at home in both Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
The Pepper Foundation provides funding for Pepper nurses which deliver high quality paediatric at home hospice care, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in the Chilterns area. The nurses are specially trained to treat children with complex needs and conditions that require palliative care and end of life care. Pepper believes in supporting the family as a whole and therefore offers sibling support groups and events, and pre and post bereavement counselling for the whole family. The services are provided free of charge to the children and families.
For more information about the Pepper Foundation, please click here
2014 – 2015
Horizon Sports Club and the Epilepsy Society
Horizon Sports Club, based in High Wycombe, was our second charity in 2015.
Horizon gives children with disabilities the opportunity to participate in sports. Through specialist coaching, children and young people are encouraged to express themselves through sport and recreation.
Horizon offers a high ratio of support through its volunteer network and small group environment. In 2015 CAWC raised over £14,000 for the Epilepsy Society and Horizon Sports Club.
For more information about the Horizon Club, please click here.
2013 – 2014
HESTIA and the Epilepsy Society
In 2014 we donated over £13,000 for HESTIA and the Epilepsy Society.
HESTIA stands for Housing and Support for Women and Children Survivors of Domestic Violence and provides a network of domestic violence refuges which offer a place of safety for over 600 women and children each year. The aim is to help them to recover from the trauma of domestic violence through participating in fun, healthy and educational group activities. The activities are devised and led by trained Children and Family workers, who have extensive experience of supporting traumatized children and their mothers.
Hestia can ensure that the children in the refuges have a valuable opportunity to socialize and reconnect with other children, helping to put them on the path to long-term recovery.
For more information about the HESTIA, please click here.
2012 – 2013
William’s Fund – Cancer Research for Children and the Epilepsy Society
In 2013 we donated over £13,000 to the National Society for Epilepsy and William’s Fund – Cancer Research for Children. William’s Fund raises money for research into Childhood Cancers and was established in memory of William Dodd, who died of cancer on 12th December 2000 at the age of 4 years and 9 months.
Since William died the charity has raised significant monies for The Childhood Cancer Research Fund. Two researchers have been employed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and we aim to fund these researchers for the foreseeable future. Dr. Mitchell who was William’s consultant is running the research programme, which is very specific to Childhood Cancer; he has no funding other than charity and no official fundraisers. All the profits raised by William’s Fund (100%) go directly to the research programme.
For more information about William’s Fund, please click here.
2011 – 2012
Medical Detection Dogs, Scannappeal and the Epilepsy Society
Over £11,000 was raised in 2012 for two local charities the Medical Detection Dogs and the Epilepsy Society.
Medical Detection Dogs
Dogs are renowned for their sense of smell. For centuries doctors have known diseases have characteristic odour which dogs may be able to detect. Notably cancer cells release small amounts of volatile substances which, with special training, dogs can detect. CAWC International presented £4,965 to the Charity which has gone towards this work and further research which will enable scientists to develop an early cancer screening system.
For more information about the Medical Detection Dogs, please click here.
Scannappeal
To celebrate the Club’s 25th anniversary, CAWC International made an additional donation of £2,500 to the Scannapeal. The funds went towards the new Breast Cancer screening equipment at High Wycombe Hospital.
For more details about the Scannappeal, please click here.
