Members of Provide Community’s Council of Governors recently visited Autism Anglia’s headquarters in Colchester to present a cheque of £5,000 to help support autistic individuals and their families.
As a social enterprise, Provide Community reached out to its members to ask for nominations for local charities that would benefit from additional funding. Autism Anglia delivers outreach programmes and supported living services in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and plans to use the donation to continue delivering essential training designed to educate the public about autism and its common misconceptions.
The charity was nominated by Sarah Newman, Provide Community’s Learning and Development Administrator, whose eldest daughter has been receiving support from Autism Anglia for several years.
When asked about her nomination, Sarah said; “My eldest daughter Rosie was diagnosed autistic three years ago, and we have been working very closely with Autism Anglia’s Lead Advocate for Educations, Kim Mayhead, to ensure Rosie has the correct support at school. Kim continues to support us with Rosie’s transition from primary to secondary education. We are forever indebted to her; she is truly my family’s guardian angel. The charity does so much for SEN parents in our area, and it was fantastic to nominate Autism Anglia for the money as a way of saying thank you”.
Autism Anglia was launched in the early 1970s when families across Essex and Norfolk raised concerns about the lack of specialist provision for their children who had been diagnosed autistic, and continues to provide essential support to families throughout East Anglia.
Kate Hancock, Chief Executive at Autism Anglia, said: “We are absolutely over the moon to receive this wonderful donation from Provide Community. The vital work we carry out in communities across East Anglia provides essential support to the families of those living with autism, and we look forward to being able to continue delivering care services to new and existing users of our services”.
