Charities
Help for Heroes
Established in October 2007, Help for Heroes has captured the hearts and minds of many in the UK in a very short space of time. The charity was established by Bryn Parry, a cartoonist and former soldier, along with his wife Emma, a combination of whose drive and personality have led to the raising of just under £3 million in the first four months.
The charity has been formed to deliver direct support for wounded servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Bryn Parry talks fervently about the campaign: "It's about the blokes. It's about Derri, a rugby player who has lost both his legs, it's about Carl, whose jaw is wired up so he has been drinking through a straw. It's about Richard who was handed a mobile phone as he lay on the stretcher so he could say goodbye to his wife. It is about Ben, Stephen, Andy and Mark and it's about them all. They are just blokes but they are our blokes; they are our heroes. We want to help our heroes."
Through working with media partners, such as The Sun and The Sunday Times, the charity has received outstanding media coverage, in terms of quantity and quality, and associations with British Airways and other well-known organisations has led to the generation of a very high profile. Celebrities have also flocked to the cause including Jeremy Clarkson, James Blunt, Ross Kemp and Gordon Ramsey and even leading Premiership football teams, led by Arsenal and Manchester United. Indeed, many high profile footballers are endorsing the campaign by wearing the Help for Heroes wristband at their matches - even Chelsea players.
It has also helped the campaign considerably that General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff (Head of the British Army) is a trustee for the charity. The initial fundraising target is ambitious and is set at £6 million in order that a much-needed swimming pool and gym complex can be built at Headley Court, the tri-service rehabilitation centre in Surrey. These facilities are urgently required for injured service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bryn Parry is determined to transform Help for Heroes into a household name, spurred on by his visit to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, where he first met the servicemen that inspired the campaign. He said: "We walked into a ward of thirty or so soldiers, sitting or lying on their beds, in t-shirts and boxers and they were wounded. They were not lying there under white sheets like in the movies, they were on top of the bedclothes and they were missing arms and legs. One man was missing both his legs and his neck was in a brace. He was consoling the son of another soldier who had died in the incident in which he had nearly died; it was profoundly moving."
We read daily of the hardships faced by our service personnel but this campaign is not trying to say anything about the rights and wrongs of current military campaigns, it is simply trying to raise awareness and funds for those men and women who don't make it home unscathed.
For more information about the charity please visit www.helpforheroes.org.uk
20% of the money raised from the 2008 Commando Challenge will go to Help for Heroes.
