Victoria Brown - CEO, Grace House
Why was the Charity formed?
The late TV presenter Kathy Secker upon retirement, carried out a tremendous amount of charitable work leading to the creation of Grace House Northeast. At the time she said, “Children deserve to have an amazing place where they can come to laugh, learn and live life to the full.” Through her passion and energy, a community fundraising campaign resulted in the formation of a Charity that now enriches the lives of disabled children and young people through a whole catalogue of services. The Charity has now evolved to support the entire family of disabled children including their parents, carers and siblings. We believe treating the family as whole in a compassionate and holistic way benefits every member of the family unit.
Which area do you cover?
We cover all of the North East.
What type of fundraising events do you have?
We have a full programme of events scheduled for the year and all funds go back into the Charity.
Summer Spectacular – Saturday 6th July, 11am -3pm, Southwick Primary School. A day of summer fun for the whole family with our Race for Grace Colour run and Summer Fayre.
Car Boot Sales – Sunday 21st July, Sunday 18th August. They take place at Grace House from 11am-2pm. People can book a place to have a clear out or come along to grab a bargain.
Great North Run – Sunday 8th September, start time will change depending on person. Run the iconic Great North Run and fundraise for Grace House.
Beat The Chaser – Friday 27th September, 6.30pm till late at Sunderland Navy club. Assemble your team for our quiz night hosted by Shaun Wallace from ITV’s the chase. Can you beat the chaser?
The GlitterBall – Saturday 19th October, 6pm till late, Rainton Arena. Our annual fundraising ball with an 80s theme. Lots of entertainment hosted by Alfie Joey and joined by band, The Reflex.
If you are interested in attending any of these or you would like to sponsor an event, please contact HF@gracehouse.co.uk
Who are your trustees?
Chair – Simon Britton, Tax lawyer
Vice Chair – Neil Henry, Local Business leader
Treasurer – Claire Miller, Accountant
Trustee – Wendy Mustard, Solicitor
Trustee – Chris Pretty, retired member of Grace House team
Trustee – Vicky Norman, Accountant
Trustee – Cllr Kelly Chequer, Deputy Leader, Sunderland City Council.
What have been your proudest moments so far?
So many proud moments. Stand outs, include how well the team work and this was demonstrated as to how well we navigated the pandemic. We instantly changed our ways of working, contacted every individual by telephone, continued to deliver important services and even grew in terms of numbers of people coming to Grace House for support.
Another is seeing a disabled young person coming into Grace House for the first time very nervous and lacking confidence. Then seeing the difference when they have attended youth groups, sports groups, work experience and counselling sessions. One notable example being Alexander one of our disabled young people who developed the confidence to appear in our anti bullying film and became a contestant for Rickshaw Relay on BBC Children in Need last year.
As a Charity we have also demonstrated adaptability as we continue to meet the ever-changing landscape of challenging family lives and changing economic environment. After listening to families, we now provide welfare advice with our partnership with Citizens Advice, and this is one example how we strive to constantly adapt with the times.
What are you currently working on?
As the disabled young person continues their journey with Grace House, they age out of our service delivery at 18 years old. Therefore, responding to the needs of families the Grace House Trustees were very keen to develop a Charity to support those young people into adulthood with appropriate support. Grace House Graduates is in the very early stages of its development and we are keen to share progress with everyone.
What does the future hold?
Lots of exciting times as we continue to respond to the needs of families we talk to. Including the development of new services and activities.
There will also be continuing organisational challenges such as meeting the growing need of service users, sustainability, recruitment of staff, fundraising and whatever else comes to the table. They are very exciting time for Grace House.
How do you get involved?
Grace House is a local Charity working to support local people. You can get involved in so many ways from volunteering, sponsorship, corporate volunteer days, fundraising and helping us to share our message.
If you are keen to help with the work this amazing Charity does, please contact vb@gracehouse.co.uk