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Charitable work

ILX has decided that 2021 is the year that we're going to start giving back! Like many people and organisations over the last 12 months, we've had the opportunity to reflect on what's important to us, and as a company have made the decision to actively fundraise for two nominated charities.

At the beginning of the year, we created a working group, made up of employees from across the business. Our first course of action was to select the charities that we were going to be raising money for throughout 2021. Everyone at ILX was given the opportunity to nominate a charity that was important to them, and once we had a long list, we asked everyone in the business to vote on them... and the following two charities came out on top!

Cardiomyopathy UK is a specialist national charity for people affected by cardiomyopathy. They provide support and information services, work to raise awareness of the condition, campaign for better access to quality treatment, and promote research.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that affects around 160,000 people in the UK. Although a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy can be life-changing, with the right treatment and support most people can live full and active lives.

This charity was nominated by Nick Thomas, an Account Director at ILX who has been personally affected by this disease. Please read Nick's story to learn the amazing work this charity did for him and his family, and why it's so close to his heart.

Nick's story

The charity is very close to me after losing my father to the illness two years ago. He was first diagnosed in 2009, at the age of 51.

My father worked hard all his life to provide for his family, and like many men of his generation, he didn't always feel comfortable in sharing concerns about his health with family, friends, or even the doctor. Had he spoken out earlier he had could have potentially prevented this illness.

Cardiomyopathy UK supports patients and families, like us, affected by this disease, by providing access to specialist cardiomyopathy nurses, support groups, and help lines. The charity also works to raise awareness within the medical profession to support earlier diagnosis.

I'm really proud that my colleagues voted for this charity, and thankful to have the opportunity to raise money for the charity so that they can continue to support other families affected by this disease.

Don't Lose Hope is a local charity based in Bourne that provides a safe haven for anyone going through a difficult time. The charity offers professional counselling for all members of the community, delivered by a team of qualified and experienced counsellors.

There is a community garden that is part of their therapeutic service, and there is a café, which helps to raise funds and also acts as a place where you will always find a friendly face or someone to talk to. However, they rely on fundraising to ensure they can maintain the service they offer.

Andy West, one of our trainers at ILX, has taken great solace and received amazing support from Don't Lose Hope as he went through an unimaginable time. Please read Andy's story, to learn why this charity is so important to all of us at ILX.

Andy's story

My connection with Don’t Lose Hope started a few years ago. In December 2019 we lost my son, Niall, to the most common cause of death in young men - suicide.

A seemingly happy, employed young man with a partner, family and friends suddenly takes his own life.

We had seen in the local paper that Don't Lose Hope had been given access to a piece of land in the park in the centre of town, and were going to build a "man shed" and garden. A space where people could go to ostensibly give a hand, do some work and more importantly, talk to someone as they did so. As men are often poor at talking we thought this was a great idea and might have been a help for Niall had it been in existence. Instead of flowers, we asked people to make donations to Don't Lose Hope to help the shed become a reality.

In February 2020, Nicola from the charity established a support group for three families in Bourne who had suffered the same loss of a child to suicide. We met twice with two counsellors whose role was to help us talk and share as a group. We managed to meet twice before lockdown and went on a self-organised walk, an opportunity for us to talk and share. Importantly, the walk took us past the house where for one of our group the unimaginable had happened. A place she had avoided for years. With the support of the group, she was able to walk past, without breaking down. Afterwards she said it had been so very hard but was incredibly grateful to the group for helping her to meet the sadness.

During lockdown, the garden has been cleared, the shed has been built, and work is still going on. But the café and gift shop have had to close, so we have lost those vital fundraising resources. In order to provide the usual support services both in the normal counselling environment and in the man shed and garden, Don't Lose Hope needs our support.

What's next?

The ILX Charity Group, which is made up of volunteers who wanted to play an active role, meets regularly to plan and discuss our calendar of events. One of the first things we did, was to set up our JustGiving page, to make it easy for our community of supporters make a pledge, and for us to easily keep everyone informed of our fundraising events.

We'll use this page on our website to keep you all updated on what we have planned, the success of past events and our progress as we work towards achieving our fundraising target.

We will also be posting these updates across our social media platforms. If you're not already, follow ILX on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

And we will be reaching out to our community of learners, customers, friends, family to show their support by making a donation.