This summer, our foundation is delighted to support Bread Over Bombs in Glasgow, an innovative charity working to combat local food poverty.

Bread Over Bombs is a music based charity, with sister branches globally, from LA to Tokyo. 100% of Bread Over Bombs Glasgow’s income goes directly to funding local foodbanks for the most vulnerable in the communities, who often are struggling to afford the basics such as food, soap and sanitary items.

Aside from donations, the charity raises money through holding music events, by taking part in national initiatives such as The Kiltwalk and through sales of vinyl/CDs/downloads of an album created by the charity’s founder in LA (and produced by Tony Visconti).

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding – and it will make a huge difference to the donations we make to those suffering from food poverty.” – Duncan Gray, Chairperson BoB Glasgow.

Read more about the charity and their work here.

Joining Jack was founded back in 2012 by Alex and Andy Johnson, the parents of a then four-year-old Jack, after he was diagnosed with Duchenne (DMD), a muscle-wasting disease for which there is currently no cure.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is one of the most common fatal genetic disorders to affect children around the world. Approximately one in every 3,500 boys worldwide is afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy with 20,000 new cases reported each year.

Since the charity was founded, Joining Jack has continued to be backed by a wonderful rugby and local community (Jack’s dad, Andy, is a former professional rugby league player from Wigan) has gone from strength to strength and has helped to make great strides forward for the Duchenne community, funding and co-funding a number of promising research projects into potential treatments for all you people living with Duchenne.

“The donation would help enormously in continuing not only this work but also helping to fund clinical research and trial positions which we will one day lead to a potential cure that would change the lives of future generations of boys diagnosed with Duchenne.”

Joining Jack

Read more about the charity’s incredible work here.

Across 20 locations in Ireland, Pieta offers free counselling to those suffering from suicidal ideation and to people who are engaging in self-harm. Pieta operates a Suicide Bereavement Counselling Service providing free counselling, therapy and support to individuals, couples, families and children who have been bereaved by suicide. Their team are fully qualified and provide a professional one-to-one therapeutic service.

The Davies Foundation is proud to have supported the essential services Pieta provides through our local grants program and our Dublin team taking part in their annual fundraiser, Darkness into Light.

80% of Pieta’s funding comes from the public so all donations are vital maintaining and expanding their counselling services, Suicide Bereavement Liasion Service, LGBTI+ Outreach service, their freephone helpline and Resilience Academy.

This Autumn, Pieta is encouraging families, communities, companies and individuals to take part in its ‘FeelGood with Pieta’ initiative. The aim of the initiative fundraiser is to simply encourage people to do something that makes them feel good – as even little things can make a big difference. Last year almost
€140,000 was raised from ‘FeelGood with Pieta’! You can find out more and get involved with the event this year here.

Learn more about Pieta and how you could support their work here.

Haslemere Food Bank was set up seven years ago following an enquiry from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) indicating the need in the Haslemere area. A small group of volunteers came together to devise a way forward, including finding premises, training volunteers, and connecting with organisations in the area who would refer people in need of food support. The CAB, a local debt advice service, the local health centre, local schools and churches as well as various local and national government agencies all refer families in need.

It began slowly with two or three families each week but, since the Covid-19 crisis began, the Food Bank has been dealing with around 25 families each week. This has put a strain on the system, especially as some volunteers have had to step down because of their own issues with the virus.

Last year, The Davies Foundation donated £750 to Haslemere and District Foodbank to help source essential food supplies needed for the most vulnerable in the community.

A surge in donations from the local community as well as new financial support from charitable agencies, such as The Davies Foundation, are helping to maintain the level of food support required. The additional financial support has provided the opportunity to include some fresh foods and to inaugurate a delivery service for those who are unable to visit the site

The Women’s Wellbeing club offer a free, confidential, non-judgmental environment for women over 18 to talk in a peer-to-peer setting in their local community. Since the first support group formed in Newton Abbott, Devon, with just 20 participants, the initiative has grown to host 16 clubs across the length of the country. The support groups meet each week to provide a safe place to chat and connect with like-minded women in the neighborhood.

The club received funding from The Davies Foundation in 2020 which assisted in setting up the 15^th group in the UK.

We pride ourselves on being 100% voluntary led from our Founders and Directors too everyone else involved, they all do their roles for the love of helping others.

Women’s Wellbeing CIC

All weekly meetings are traditionally face-to-face but also via Zoom, and are led by volunteer facilitators who ensure that everyone is heard and has the space to share each week. The club is a brilliant resource for connecting women, promoting open discussion and supporting the mental health of women nationally. You can find out more about the fantastic work here.

The Survivor’s Nest is a charity based in Georgia, US, working in the community to support women living with and surviving all forms of cancer. The charity focusses on nutrition, fitness, and overall well-being, running programs such as peer-to-peer support, health & wellness scholarships, beauty make-overs and holistic care packages for those affected.  The Survivor’s Nest provides education and economic resources during and after treatment, helping patients and survivors to live a healthier lifestyle.

The Davies Foundation donated grant funding to The Survivor’s Nest to support their projects and contribute towards their 2020 impact. This included gifting 22 women undergoing treatment with wellness baskets, 4 carers supported during National Carer Givers month and 14 grants distributed for nutritious food.

Every year the team gift Mother’s Day baskets to women in the area affected by cancer, filled with wellness items to uplift their spirits and provide resources to promote healthy living. Below are some photos of the basket drop-offs in the local neighborhoods.

Thank you so much for supporting The Survivor’s Nest. We’re so grateful to have your support

Founder, April Smith

You can find out more about The Survivor’s Nest and their brilliant projects here.

Let’s Get Talking is a charitable Counselling & Psychotherapy Service providing accessible, professional, non-set fee counselling and psychotherapy across Ireland. First opening in Galway 2012, Let’s Get Talking aim to provide access to high quality mental health services to the community on a non-set fee policy.

As much of the service began to move online due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, the grant funding received from The Davies Foundation has supported Let’s Get Talking to provide a COVID safe environment for the most vulnerable  and in-crisis clients and to provide training for staff to support our clients in a safe environment.

This is so important as Let’s Get Talking has seen a 53% increase in demand for the service since June 2020.

Our mandate, is informed by one important ethic –equity. Each client of the service is treated according to their needs and not what they can afford to pay. As a community counselling and psychotherapy non- profit partnership, we provide professional counselling and psychotherapy support to all based on their needs, in other words, a non-set fee policy

CEO, Cyril Hyland

Clients contact us in relation to a wide range of issues that can range from seeking help for depression, anxiety, stress, relationship issues, addiction, trauma, bullying, eating disorders, parenting issues, or family breakdown. Since COVID-19 we have seen a significant increase in referrals in from people who have never engaged in the past with mental health services, which further highlights the need for early intervention services as provided by Let’s Get Talking.

Director of Client Services and co-founder Elaine Ryan

Read more about their work and how you can get involved here.

Last summer, The Davies Foundation partnered with St Gregory CEVC Primary School based in Sudbury, Suffolk to fund new technology equipment to enhance student’s wellbeing and development. Their Head Teacher, Daniel Woodrow, shared a few word with us on the significant impact this donation had…

The generosity of The Davies Foundation will bring Computing to life at our school in a way that we would not have been able to do on our own. New iPads will mean greater access to all of our children to educational games and learning software that they love to use.

More than that though, the new hardware will provide opportunities for the children to expand their learning and have lots of fun in the process: with our new green screens they can put in backgrounds to present from anywhere in the world (and beyond!); technic Lego and robotic equipment will inspire them in programming and new filming and recording equipment will turn them into podcasters, YouTubers and directors! We simply would not have been able to afford this without the incredible support of The Davies Foundation and we are truly grateful.

Mr Daniel Woodward, Headteacher

There was another bonus to our work with the Davies Foundation. Without their support we might not have thought to get the whole school together for a Wet Welly Walk, and the fact that we did helped bring the school community even closer together and also helped reintroduce the children to the simple fun and benefits to their mental health of going for a walk with friends in the fresh air and jumping in a few puddles along the way!
Thank you Davies Foundation for your kindness, generosity and community spirit.

This December, volunteers across the group worked in partnership with The Davies Foundation to get the essential food supplies to the charities and people who need it the most.

With the global health crisis putting many families and households under financial strain and foodbanks experiencing more pressure than ever, we wanted to do our bit to support those living in hardship this winter. Together we raised over £2,800/$3,800/€3,100 which was used to source long-life food supplies and distributed through local charities including Inner City Homeless Dublin, SVP Food Appeal, LW Storehouse Chorley, Stoke Foodbank, Glasgow foodbank and Friends in Service Elko.

A huge thank you to everyone who donated as well as a special thank you to our coordinators who led the fundraising initiative in our teams: Carolyn Higgins & Louise Kinsella in Dublin, Shelley Hawkins in Bolton, Zara Nadeem in Stoke-on-Trent, Laura Baxendale in Glasgow & Celis Nozu in Nevada. Your help was invaluable in fundraising, sourcing and delivering the products in our communities!

In June, The Davies Foundation donated grant funding to the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity to help support patients living with cancer and the people close to them. The charity focuses on improving the quality of life for patients with all types of cancer, through a range of treatments including counselling, reflexology, aromatherapy, and support groups.

The charity works to support men and women with all types of cancer at all stages; newly diagnosed, throughout and post treatment, as well as their wider support network of family, friends and carers.

The organisation offers these services in non-clinical environments to promote a safe, peaceful, relaxing setting across the Essex, London and Hertfordshire regions. Their services makes a huge impact for their client’s emotional well-being alongside their medical treatments.

Last year, Helen Rollason Cancer Charity reports that The Davies Foundation grant was more essential than ever. With the charity’s retail income from their charity shops withdrawn and many clients having their treatments cancelled or delayed, the donation crucially funded therapists to continue to support clients remotely. The funding contributed to the welfare calls and crisis counselling made to clients in need, as well as signposting to virtual mindfulness and yoga classes.

The staff are all very welcoming and supportive. Sitting in the lounge before and after treatment is all part of the experience. Talking to other clients and staff or just sitting having ‘me time’, is all part of the therapy. It is so peaceful and relaxing I do not know what I would have done without the charity.

Client, Helen Rollason Cancer Charity

I would personally like to say a big thank you for keeping it going I really look forward to my call from counsellor Sarah. My anxiety in this isolation period can get a little high. Thank you for being there for us all.

Client, Helen Rollason Cancer Charity

The charity receives no Government or NHS funding and relies on corporate donations, charity shops, events, grants and its fantastic fundraising supporters to continue services.  To find out more information you can visit their website here.