Our action-packed Summer isn’t just about fundraising… we have some great family events lined up, too!

Hi Sunshine News Readers,

As you may have seen, we’ve recently launched a lineup of thrill-seeking events and challenges to raise vital funds over the summer. Over the next few months, we’re encouraging supporters to try something new, take on a personal challenge, or face their fears in one of our activities, to raise money so we can continue to support children living with disabilities, additional needs and terminal illness in our region.

We have a skydive in September for the ultimate adrenaline experience, as well as an evening of e-kart racing after work or school, where racers can compete to be top of the leaderboard. We’re also teaming up with Jelly Legs for the second year as we bring back our Sunshine Zipline across the Tyne. We offer discounted entry and the fundraising target is only £50. For more information and to book on to any of our events, please visit www.thesunshinefund.org/get-involved. If you have any questions, or for corporate team bookings, please contact us at hello@thesunshinefund.org.

To coincide with these events, we are also running a digital ‘Summer of Thrills’ raffle, and the theme is adventure! We have a selection of action-packed prizes up for grabs. To enter, simply text THRILL to 70215 and follow the instructions.

One text equals one entry and you can enter as many times as you like. Anybody who signs up to one of our thrill-seeking events automatically receives four free entries! Entries close at 23.59pm on August 30 and entrants must be aged 16 or over.

As a small charity that receives zero statutory funding, our fundraising events are our lifeline, and without donor support, we wouldn’t be able to continue our work. Not only do our supporters generate income that enables us to fund life-changing equipment, but it also allows us to put on our much-loved family events.

Our family events provide inclusive activities for our community so they can take part in events where price and access aren’t barriers in a comfortable, welcoming environment. For a lot of our families, it can be difficult to find activities that are suitable for their children, or they may find themselves spending a lot of money on something that is too overwhelming, or just not appropriate for their children.

Our events are designed to be inclusive, and we encourage families to come along and at least try it out, and if they need to dip in and out, they are welcome to stay as long or as little as they like, without the worry that they’ve wasted money on something their child hasn’t enjoyed. They allow parents and carers to meet other like-minded people, and our Sunshine Children can create special memories with their friends and siblings.

Last Saturday, we were very kindly gifted some tickets to the Centre For Life, so we could invite some of our families to their ‘Spotlight on… Our Earth’ day. Families were able to explore the centre at their own leisure, speak to real-life scientists, and check out the new additions that have been added, including their new planetarium show, ‘Earth Defenders’.

Our families had a great day and it was the perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday. We’ve been working with the Centre for Life for over a year now, and we’re so grateful to the team there for always thinking of us. We’d like to especially thank David Jones, community liaison manager, who makes our Sunshine Family visits happen.

And this is just the start… we’re delighted to say that we’ve received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, which has opened up even more opportunities and made it possible to provide events and activities for our families.

As we head into the Summer holidays, we understand how difficult it can be for families to find clubs and activities for kids to get involved in, and we appreciate that this is an even bigger struggle to families where at least one child has a disability. This is why we’ve planned several events over the summer, so our families can enjoy some days out without the stress of not knowing if their kid will enjoy it, or spending money on something that isn’t right for them.

We’re bringing back our Beach Day for the second year! After the success of last year’s surf day at South Shields, we’re thrilled to be teaming up with the gang at South Shields Surf again to facilitate adapted surfing with specialised boards, led by the amazing professionals, as well as general surf sessions and rock-pool/coastal exploring sessions. We’ve been blown away by the support we’ve already received on this event, and we’ll have a lot of people to thank when we write about it in early August, but it’s set to be a huge success! You can watch last year’s video to see what we got up to, and the importance of our family events at www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6KOyb3Kzpg. Fingers crossed for sunnier weather this year!

As we bring back our beach day event, we also look forward to a brand new event, one that we are very excited about here at Team Sunshine! It’s with our pleasure to say that we’re teaming up with Newcastle United Foundation to present an inclusive fun day!

The day will be broken into two sessions; in the morning, we’ll be taking a group of our families on a stadium tour at St James Park, then in the afternoon we’ll be putting on some fun activities that children of all abilities can get stuck into at NUCASTLE; there will be football and multi-skills activities. We’d like to thank Lewis and the team at NUF for facilitating this day; we’re really looking forward to it and we’re confident that our families will, too!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie X