Tom is one of our younger members. You may well have seen him out and about with us on collections down the years, or possibly on one of our posters or pull-ups (very much the poster boy for DBA is young Mr Archer), or possibly just waterskiing past you down on Sandbanks beach.
Here, Tom discusses what he has been doing to pass the time during the lockdown.
Have you heard about The 2.6 Challenge?
Well, like for so many other charities throughout the land, COVID-19 has been devastating for Dorset Blind Association’s finances due to the lost income from cancelled fundraising events: most notably our annual Motor Show.
In response to the current crisis facing us and other charities, a new fundraising initiative has been set up to try and help us brave the storm: and the best thing is, you can do it anywhere – including your own home!
The challenge can be anything you dream up, as long as it incorporates the number 2.6 or 26 and be on or from Sunday 26th April (the 40th London Marathon, which is the world’s biggest one-day fundraising event, was meant to take place this day, you see).
There are loads of things you could do: run 2.6 miles; do 26 minutes of juggling; complete 26 laps of your garden; if you’re a real sucker for punishment, try and make it through 26 minutes of that atrocious London Has Fallen film – even bearing 2.6 minutes would be an achievement! Anyway, there’s a host of ideas available here on the official page.
There are no rules– apart from the Government guidelines on how to exercise safely during this time, naturally – and the challenge is suited to people of all ages and abilities. The main thing is to get busy, have fun and pledge whatever you can to fundraise to save the UK’s charities.
You can donate here or fundraise here via JustGiving or donate directly via the DBA page. Once you’ve set up a fundraising page, don’t forget to post it on social media with the hashtag #TwoPointSixChallenge and tag us. Likewise, do the same with any photos you post on social media platforms so we can share with our followers:
Facebook – @DorsetBlind
Instagram – @dorset.blind
Twitter – @DorsetBlind
Go on: be a Home Hero and raise funds from your lounge, garden, bedroom or balcony. Or bath! Ooh, and please do share this with your chums by nominating them as well so they can think about pitching in too!
Any questions? Please email Gareth at gareth@dorsetblind.org.uk
Community is very much the name of the game at Dorset Blind Association
With our charity shops now closed for the moment, our fantastic staff and volunteers have been putting themselves to good use in the community, supporting the vulnerable in this time of uncertainty.
Julia, manager of our Southbourne branch, has volunteered to collect prescriptions and shopping for vulnerable people in her area, with Sue and Andrea, who volunteer at the shop, also helping in the scheme. There’s obviously a real need out there at the moment for volunteers in the community, and it’s fantastic to see DBA stepping up to help.
During this incredibly difficult time, all of us are being challenged and moved in ways that seemed almost unimaginable just a few weeks ago.
Here at Dorset Blind Association, we move on: our priority, as always, to support our community in every way still available to us. Granted, we may not be able to go out and visit our members face-to-face but our amazing team continue to work in other ways, supporting our members over the phone and guiding them through what is a particularly unsettling time.
Though our range of services adapt and continue, the current lockdown means our fundraising opportunities have dramatically reduced. The necessary restrictions brought in by government mean that we can no longer fundraise through our community activities (bucket collections, quiz nights, collection tins, etc) and events like our Motor Show. This leaves us with a considerable hole in our income.
In fact, most charities will be expecting around 50% loss of voluntary income due to coronavirus – whilst almost half will expect a great increase in demand.
We appreciate that times are difficult for many people but, if you have the means and the inclination, please donate to Dorset Blind Association HERE
The next few months will be challenging for all of us and, as we rely almost exclusively on the generosity of the community, your support has never been so important to us and the vulnerable people we support – thank you.
We’re all in this together #DorsetTogether
Hello everyone
Firstly, we are sending our best to everyone who has been impacted by COVID-19 and hope you are all well and keeping yourselves – and everyone else – safe during these strange times. Ultimately, most important thing is for us all to play our part in helping to slow and stop the spread of this virus so life can start to return to normality as soon as possible.
With this in mind, and the probability of a nationwide lockdown looking more likely day by day, yesterday morning we made the decision to cancel the upcoming Dorset Blind Association Motor Show on Sunday 3rd May 2020 and started the long process of contacting all attendees and volunteers. We know you will understand that it is a decision that was made following much thought and with everyone’s best interests at heart. Indeed, with last night’s announcement of a UK lockdown, the decision whether or not to cancel would have been taken out of our hands anyway.
As the Motor Show is the largest and most important event in our fundraising calendar, welcoming over 3,500 people last year and massively helping to increase our profile within the county and beyond, its cancellation will inevitably have a big financial impact upon Dorset Blind Association. In turn, this will negatively impact our ability to continue running and offering vital services to the local community during what is already a very challenging time for charities, and especially smaller, local ones like DBA.
Your support at this time would be hugely appreciated by ourselves and the vulnerable people we support throughout the county. These are testing times for everyone, but if you are able to donate, we would be immensely grateful. We receive no support from the government and 100% of what we do is only made possible by the generosity of our supporters, so your gesture really would go a long way in helping us to keep our services going at this difficult time.
We are in the process of setting up a DONATE button on Facebook but in the interim, you can help us by donating via:
our website or the Charities Aid Foundation
Thank you for your support – it truly means the world to us and our community.
Dear friends,
We want to update everyone on the impact of the coronavirus situation on our work and services.
The health and well-being of our members, volunteers and staff are always our first priority so we have taken the following measures in suspending all of our clubs, activity groups and face-to-face community support services until further notice.
We have also closed all of our regional charity shops (Christchurch, Ferndown, Southbourne and Parkstone). All shops will be displaying posters explaining our position, with accompanying phone numbers for all points of contact whilst they are closed. If you have any donations for the shops, we would ask that you please hold on to them if you can until we re-open. Support from the community is vital for us to keep going as a charity and we value this immensely
Our office remains open until further notice and through the office and our community support workers we are continuing to offer telephone support, information, advice and guidance. We are also organising to make as many calls to our members as possible, just so people hear a friendly voice and know that we still care very much about them.
We are continuing to monitor the situation and promise to resume all our activities and normal services as soon as it is safe to do so. In the interim, we will still be displaying updates, stories and information on our social media sites, notably Facebook, for you to keep up with all DBA goings-on and announcements.
We hope that everyone manages to keep safe and well during these difficult and challenging times.
The task of running a local charity brings a huge number of challenges, but it also brings moments of joy and pleasure. Every so often, we’re caught off guard by an unexpected moment of magic which only goes to remind us that the work of Dorset Blind Association is valued by people in the community who don’t benefit directly from our services, but who nevertheless recognise the importance and value of the service we provide in the community, and the lives we change for the better.
This week we were overwhelmed to receive a gift of £20,000 from the Alan Miller Charitable Trust, by way of his friends Gerry and Pauline. By all accounts, Alan was a man who saw the value in supporting groups and initiatives which make a real difference to the lives of people in Dorset, and through his friendship with one of our members, he recognised the value of the work this charity does throughout Dorset.
Indeed, Alan’s influence isn’t limited to DBA, and his legacy is already making a huge difference in the wider community, funding, amongst others: a wheelchair-friendly nature trail on Brownsea Island; eye scanners, microscopes and incubators; and an end-of-life garden at Bournemouth Hospital.
Thank you, Alan. And thank you, Gerry and Pauline. This gift will make it possible for us to continue offering our services throughout what is a vast and sprawling county, and ensure we can offer our members the same quality of help and support they count on us to provide.
A great day out/in yesterday with a few thrills and spills (and the odd ‘hole in one’) for some of our members with some crazy golf antics in Bournemouth. Thanks to Moira for organising, everyone who turned up to help and the lovely staff at Mr Mulligans, Bournemouth for accommodating us.
After a little bit of fixing here, a little bit of planning there, and a bit of waiting for a day where constant rain had been kicked into touch, Steve and support rider Mark finally managed to take the tandem out for a spin. 
