Lollipop is fundraising through the Aviva Community Fund! Click here to go to our project page to find out more and to pledge to our project!
What will your pledges enable us to do?
In order to ensure our activities are accessible for all our members, using their preferred method of communication, we provide a range of communication support for ALL Lollipop activities.
This is a huge but vital expense to the tight budget of the charity. If we reach our target, this will allow us to secure communication support to deliver our inclusive Events Programme for the next 12 months.
Depending on the need of individuals attending the activities, we will provide the following support:
- British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters
- Speech-to-text-reporters (STTR)
- Lip-speakers
Who will benefit from the funding?
Some of the funds will help support our Early Years group, who are now meeting face-to-face once again. Many of our youngest members (some of whom were only born in lockdown) are only just meeting other children of a similar age for the very first time – which is pivotal to their learning and development.
“I feel that it is essential that my daughter has the opportunity to meet and play with other deaf children on the same level as her hearing friends so that she knows why her hearing loss should not make her feel different or hold her back in any way.”
“My son has felt so welcome and enjoyed making new friends at Lollipop. This is his only contact with other hearing-impaired people and has been a really positive experience for all of us.”
“My daughter has enjoyed each experience with Lollipop. Lollipop makes my daughter feel better about wearing her hearing aids.”
The money raised will also be used to provide support to our junior and youth groups, at various monthly activities. Our youths have requested to go swimming, ice-skating, pizza making, and would also like to attempt a climbing wall and an escape room…They love a challenge!
We also run a mentoring scheme supported by deaf mentors to help deaf children and young people develop skills for the future. Research shows that good social and emotional resilience is important for all children. Helping deaf children and young people to develop this is at the heart of Lollipop’s thinking.
“Having a mentor increases my son’s independence as he is then not reliant on those close to him in everyday life. He loves going to Lollipop and has made lots of friends there, he definitely has a feeling of belonging to the group which has increased his confidence, self-esteem and improved his social skills.”
We listen to our members to make sure that we are providing what people need and have a close working relationship with professionals working in York and North Yorkshire. Our members are keep their fingers crossed that we reach our target!