We are very pleased to announce that we have 2 new Community Support Workers on board. Heather will be covering the Poole and Bournemouth area for members over 65 and Meg will take over the East Dorset area. To find our more about everyone in our team have a look at our staff profiles in ‘Meet the Team’.
All four of our Charity shops are ready to open their doors again after lockdown. Our staff have been getting things ready to make sure that everything is still working safely and within guidelines when they return with the new seasons stock.
We will also be launching our new Loyalty card which will give you cash back on every pound you spend. This can then be spent at any of our shops. Ask our staff for more information.
Watch this recent news article from ITV detailing our need for storage space.
Did you know March is Free Wills Month? You can ring a local solicitor to see if they are participating or use this link to find one near you. You can also choose to leave a legacy or gift to a charity of your choice in your will, read on for some info from our website.
A legacy donation is a charitable contribution left to us in somebody’s Will, and they are our single most important source of funding. In fact, without them we could not survive. Legacies to charities are tax-efficient as they are exempt from inheritance tax and could bring the estate below the inheritance tax threshold.
The most common ways to leave a gift:
If you have already written your Will, you can add a Codicil including a gift to us.
It is important to have your Will made properly by a professional.How to set up a legacy donation If you’d like to leave a legacy donation to us, you can discuss this with your solicitor, or just phone us on 01202 712865.
Visual impairment varies greatly from person to person and it is sometimes difficult to demonstrate what people with the various conditions experience – until now. For the first time ever the sight loss sector can show how the world looks through the eyes of people with vision impairment, thanks to a new video from Thomas Pocklington Trust.
The video, produced with assistance from RNIB and Glaucoma UK, focuses on the six most common sight conditions in the UK today: Cataracts, Diabetic Retinopathy, Retinitis Pigmentosa, Hemianopia, Age-related Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma. I’m sure most of our members will recognise their view of the world in the video below. Please share to your friends and family.
A heartfelt thank you to the businesses that offer us support, it is always appreciated and is incredibly valuable to…
Posted by Dorset Blind Association on Tuesday, 2 March 2021
Catch Jonathan Holyhead, our CEO and Sir Christopher Lees, Chairman of the Talbot Village Trust, talking on BBC Radio Solent about their generous donation to Dorset Blind Association here: the interview starts at 2:49:30.
We are delighted to share news of the award of a grant of £27,900 to Dorset Blind Association from the Charities Aid Foundation Resilience Fund, to help maintain the ongoing provision of our community support service.
Community support will always be the absolute bedrock of what Dorset Blind Association stands for and delivers, recognising just how vital this is for so many blind and partially sighted people throughout Dorset as they face the daily struggle to cope with the impact of their disability.
Our community support service helps people come to terms with their sight loss and then still lead full, healthy and socially active lives. This support has been even more essential during the coronavirus pandemic and for some of our members, Dorset Blind Association staff and volunteers have provided the main – sometimes only – source of regular, reliable help to cope with the additional stresses and strains of lockdown.
The CAF Resilience Fund comes from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Community Match Challenge funding scheme as part of the Government’s coronavirus support package for charities.
Applications to the Fund far exceeded the available funds, so Dorset Blind Association is extremely grateful that the importance and value of our community support work was assessed as amongst those most deserving of support.
As we face this latest lockdown our services will continue to be delivered as they have been throughout previous lockdowns.
Current telephone and Zoom groups continue as will our phone buddy programme.
You can still call Jo and Coreen at the office for general or equipment support, and Jim will still be bringing equipment into the community when safe to do so.
If you need help or want to get involved please call Jo on 01202 712865. Unfortunately, all charity shops will remain closed as they are non essential shops.
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Our very good friends and supporters at Blue Sky Financial Services have made a very generous donation of £600 to us!
Gary and his team are normally involved in an event to help raise funds for us every year, but for obvious reasons this wasn’t possible in 2020. They have decided not to send Christmas cards this year and instead are donating the equivalent cost of cards and postage to us and topping it up to £600.
We are extremely grateful and look forward to working on future projects with them! We wish them all a wonderful Christmas and a much better New Year!
The video link is their Christmas Greeting to us all. https://youtu.be/RhjpM1uvbxM
