Where we began ......
Hello my name is Sara Llewellyn and i would just like to take the time to tell you history of where Louie's Helping Hands has come from. I am the mother of a little boy called Louie Llewellyn; Louie was born with what the doctors call a '2q24.3 deletion' which is a rare chromosome deletion
In 2012, my very good friend Tania Todd and Louie's Godmother decided to set up Louie's Helping Hands facebook page, to start raising money for Louie to help provide him with specialist equipment and anything he might need to help him with his everyday development. Tania did this with online auctions, which was very successful and kind people donated all the of items for. Nathan (Louie's godfather ) then the ran the London Marathon April 2012, with Tania following in his footsteps and running the London Marathon in 2013. We have been lucky enough to have the support of our amazing friends who have continued to support us over the time and two other very dear friends of the family Mike Noble and Mike Stace from Noble and Stace Choclatiers, designed Louie's Helping Hands website. More people helped to fund raise for Louie over the years through events and sponsorship's and have continued to support us. Tania helps the Elves at Christmas to deliver their reindeer food through Louie's Helping Hands, a tradition i know she will keep to help all of the children this charity now supports.
On December 11th 2015 Louie's school closed down, The Royal School for Deaf children in Margate was never to reopen again. Leaving Louie and some of his peers without a school provision suitable to meet their needs. We decided we had to take action and use our annex to deliver some activities and open our home up to reach out to these children. At first It was a very hard decision for us to think of using Louie's Helping Hands for a different purpose, as this was always only about Louie and this was originally set up to help him throughout his life, but it very quickly became apparent that there were a lot of activities and therapies other children needed that were now no longer accessible, it soon became clear Louie was not the only child who was in need, so the decision was made to progress Louie's Helping Hands into a registered charity to support these children, with the socialisation, therapies and equipment that they deserve and need.
We have had huge help along the way and received our registered charitable status by 19th May 2016, something we could not have achieved on our own. We are very grateful for all the effort and dedication shown to Louie over the years and the support that friends, family and even strangers have offered and i would like to take this moment to say a huge thank you to all of you. There are far too many to list on here but you all know who you are and we would not be where we are today without you and look forward to working with you again in the future.
In 2012, my very good friend Tania Todd and Louie's Godmother decided to set up Louie's Helping Hands facebook page, to start raising money for Louie to help provide him with specialist equipment and anything he might need to help him with his everyday development. Tania did this with online auctions, which was very successful and kind people donated all the of items for. Nathan (Louie's godfather ) then the ran the London Marathon April 2012, with Tania following in his footsteps and running the London Marathon in 2013. We have been lucky enough to have the support of our amazing friends who have continued to support us over the time and two other very dear friends of the family Mike Noble and Mike Stace from Noble and Stace Choclatiers, designed Louie's Helping Hands website. More people helped to fund raise for Louie over the years through events and sponsorship's and have continued to support us. Tania helps the Elves at Christmas to deliver their reindeer food through Louie's Helping Hands, a tradition i know she will keep to help all of the children this charity now supports.
On December 11th 2015 Louie's school closed down, The Royal School for Deaf children in Margate was never to reopen again. Leaving Louie and some of his peers without a school provision suitable to meet their needs. We decided we had to take action and use our annex to deliver some activities and open our home up to reach out to these children. At first It was a very hard decision for us to think of using Louie's Helping Hands for a different purpose, as this was always only about Louie and this was originally set up to help him throughout his life, but it very quickly became apparent that there were a lot of activities and therapies other children needed that were now no longer accessible, it soon became clear Louie was not the only child who was in need, so the decision was made to progress Louie's Helping Hands into a registered charity to support these children, with the socialisation, therapies and equipment that they deserve and need.
We have had huge help along the way and received our registered charitable status by 19th May 2016, something we could not have achieved on our own. We are very grateful for all the effort and dedication shown to Louie over the years and the support that friends, family and even strangers have offered and i would like to take this moment to say a huge thank you to all of you. There are far too many to list on here but you all know who you are and we would not be where we are today without you and look forward to working with you again in the future.