Joe’s live-streaming fundraising success

Joe lives in Solihull, with his wife, Grace, eight-year-old daughter, Alice and three-year-old son, Arthur. Joe spoke with us about his live-streaming fundraising, and why he chose to support Family Fund.

‘Tell us more about Arthur, Joe’

“Arthur is such a happy boy. He’s most comfortable at home, like most of us are, but does love going out too and exploring. He loves rough and tumble games. He’s just a joy to be around!

“Arthur has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and global developmental delay. He is pre-verbal, so he makes noises but he doesn’t communicate using words. He has been developing his own way of communicating. If he wants to go in the garden and play, he’ll bring us his shoes and we’ll go out into the garden with him (though he won’t necessarily want to wear his shoes!). It amazes me how he communicates. And he’s made a lot of progress.”

‘How did Family Fund support your family?’

“We used Family Fund’s grant for clothing and days out. Arthur goes through clothes like no tomorrow, and he’s very tall for his age, so we used the voucher to buy some clothes for him. With the remainder, we went on days out as a family.  

“Days out can be hard for us because it’s a risk. We don’t necessarily know if Arthur is going to enjoy it or not, or want to go home, as he can be easily overwhelmed. Spending money on a family day out for us is a big commitment and risk, especially with the cost of living and our income at the time. The grant from Family Fund gave us a peace of mind that booking something fun wouldn’t financially impact us, and we had a great time together. We went to a safari park and a wildlife conservation. Arthur really enjoyed it as he likes animals, and it was great that Alice did too.”

‘And what about your live-streaming fundraising success?’

“A while back I created an art piece for Family Fund focused around ASD. Arthur and I finished off the background together. I wanted to connect with him in some way, and have something for both of us, as connecting with him can be hard. It was nice to do the art with him and watch him be creative, make a mess and have fun!

“We didn’t raise as much as we’d hoped, so after recently building a career and a community on an online streaming and selling platform, we decided to take our fundraising here. We did a 12 hour online stream where we sold our own items, my art works, donations from the community and large retailers and other sellers helped out too. It was absolutely incredible, and we couldn’t believe that we raised £3,000. It restored my faith in humanity! We feel so grateful to have connected with a community of such kind and generous people.

“I’m so glad we chose to fundraise by doing something we enjoy. When you’re passionate about something, the outcome is always going to be better than something you’re not interested in. I’m not interested in running, so I wouldn’t run to fundraise. But I do enjoy this and we’re good at it.”

‘How did you feel afterwards?’

“We were exhausted after live-streaming for 12 hours and then packing up all the products to ship the following day. But we were so proud of ourselves and thankful to everyone who supported and donated. We felt this immense feeling of fulfilment and accomplishment, to be able to help other families the same way Family Fund helped ours. We’re definitely planning on doing more in the future.

“Family Fund opened doors that were closed for our family. Family Fund gave us the key to unlock these doors and see what’s behind them. They gave us time together as a low-income family raising a child with additional needs. The additional costs our family faced on our income was really tough. We wanted to be able to give back to other families facing that struggle. It feels like it is our duty to contribute to other families, so more can receive the same support that we did, and give their children what they need.”