Helping Tom’s Trust prosper: A community case study
UHY East, our Letchworth, Cambridge and Huntingdon firm, are proud supporters of Tom’s Trust, a charity dedicated to providing psychological support for children with brain tumours and their families.
In the East of England alone, 40 children are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year. Tom’s Trust provide vital support to these children and their families, ensuring they are not alone when going through such a life changing experience.
Our teams at UHY East have supported Tom’s Trust from the very beginning, having worked closely with Tom’s father, Andrew Whiteley. Over the years, we have been involved in lots of fundraising challenges for Tom’s Trust to help raise funds for the families that need this support.
While Tom’s Trust is supported by companies like UHY who raise crucial funds and awareness, they can continue to provide mental health support to children who have received a life-changing brain tumour diagnosis, as well as to their families. Prosperity also enables growth, evident in Tom’s Trust’s expansion last year when they opened a third centre in the Northwest; providing crucial mental health support to children with brain tumours in the most deprived areas of the country.
Without the invaluable support of companies such UHY, Tom’s Trust’s prosperity would be impacted, leading to a decline in awareness about the charity and, more importantly, it would decrease their fundraising income. This in turn would reduce the essential services they are able to provide Tom’s Trust children and families at the point a brain tumour diagnosis is received until a child makes the transition from paediatric services to adult services within the NHS. Ultimately, prosperity enables Tom’s Trust to provide children the support they need to resume their lives and go on to achieve their full potential.
The UHY East team love getting together to raise funds for Tom’s Trust and are passionate about helping others and making a difference. In August 2022, some of the team at UHY East took part in the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge which involved climbing the three tallest mountains in Yorkshire on a 24-mile course, in under 12 hours. We managed to raise over £4,800 for Tom’s Trust, which means four children and their families will be given the mental health support they need for the next year.
Marie Pegram, Partner at UHY East said: “It was tough going! We had sweat, tears and lots of blisters but we worked together as a team and encouraged each other. We also had the rest of the team in the office sending us motivational messages of support. It was such a proud moment for us all at the finish line knowing that we have raised over £4,000 for Tom’s Trust!”.
In June 2022, UHY East were proud sponsors of the Tom’s Trust Race Day held at Newmarket Racecourse and were delighted to help Tom’s Trust smash their target of £40,000 through sponsorship and the charity auction.
Other events included Marie Pegram and Louie Goldscheider completing the TTP Cambridge Half Marathon in 2021 and a scavenger hunt fundraiser around Letchworth Garden City where friends and family members joined our UHY team to take on various challenges such as pouring a pint in the local pub and creating a human pyramid. Letchworth residents embraced the UHY team causing havoc whilst raising money for a great cause.
The team and our families also got involved in Tom’s Trust 31 Stars campaign, where we collectively ran a virtual marathon to support Guinness World Record holder Ben Blowes who ran 31 Marathons in 31 days!
How we will continue to help Tom’s Trust prosper
We love supporting Tom’s Trust and will continue to help them raise as much money as possible to be able to provide crucial psychological care for families with a child who has a brain tumour. The team’s fundraising page is still open, to donate go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/uhy-hacker-young-east-yorkshire-three-peak-challenge
Debs Mitchell, Co-Founder of Tom’s Trust said: “Thanks to the tireless fundraising efforts from companies like UHY East holding events like these, we are able to continue to provide essential psychological support to children with brain tumours and their families.”