209 - Karate lessons for a youngster - June 2025

 We were asked by a member, who works at Manor & Castle Development Trust, if we could support a young girl her team had met.

The girl lost her mum to cancer at the beginning of the year. It has been an understandably traumatic time for her.

In the Easter Holidays, she had taken part in a sports activity day which included some introductory coaching with a karate instructor.  This had been made available to her as part of the government funded Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme .  HAF provides free holiday club sessions, including meals and activities, to eligible children who receive benefits-related free school meals. It's designed to support families and ensure children have access to healthy food and engaging activities during school holidays.

The karate coaching session had helped her get rid of some of her anger and she would have loved to have been able to continue with sessions beyond the holiday taster but unfortunately this was not something the family could afford. 

Our member explained that they had witnessed such a positive impact on the girl, that colleagues were trying to apply for funding to help her to continue with the sessions.  They were willing to put their own money towards helping the girl and had raised enough to pay the joining fee and a couple of months.    We were pleased to help them further with a donation of £480 which means they have enough for 10 months of tuition. 

We recognised from additional information our member provided just how important it is for this girl to have the opportunity to release her emotions and could see how much karate would benefit her.

We felt our donation, together with the generosity of the staff supporting her, will give the girl some security that she would have access to the beneficial sessions for a reasonable period of time, whilst giving the organisation time to seek out further funding if required. 

We thank our member for their thoughtful nomination and wish the girl the very best with her karate.


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