Regenerate

The Get Leading team of 24 people headed out to visit Dare 2 Dream in Romania to support them in finishing their community building project.

Dare 2 Dream was founded by Dana and Gusti who moved to the village of Soard, Romania, in 2008. At the time, the Roma community in Soard was incredibly poor and faced multiple issues including chronic unemployment, hunger and racism. The vast majority of children did not attend school and many families lived in homes made from mud with the whole family living in one room.

In 2011, with support from friends in the UK, they ran their first children’s camp in Soard running activities and workshops. This success sparked a desire to do more – and Dare2Dream was created. They started by providing a hot meal every Saturday for children in the community. In 2016, work began on the construction of a new community centre. This space has enabled them to run after school education workshops and homework clubs for the children, and workshops for the men and women in the community focusing on their separate issues and building their resilience.

During the weekend we were there, we successfully managed to insulate the Dare 2 Dream community building and build four benches for the feeding program as well as help build a roof for a family in the community.

There was an epic team dynamic as we pulled together and worked with the Roma village to finish their community centre. It was also a great opportunity to for people in the group to develop their skills and make new friendships.

 “The trip made me feel less materialistic and opened my eyes to how different life would be growing up in Romania. It really made me appreciate what I have” Steven.

The Regenerate and The Feel Good Bakery Team had a jam-packed day on Friday celebrating Global’s Make Some Noise day!

As one of Global’s chosen charities this year, Regenerate were invited to start the day by meeting Jamie Theakston at Hyde Park, one mile away from the finish line for his final pitstop. Jamie’s Bike Britain challenge started in Edinburgh and he made his way through 8 cities in 8 days finishing up in London. 

Andy joined Jamie live on Heart FM and gave a shout out about Regenerate and the lives affected by Global’s amazing fundraising effort! Jamie’s 650 mile ride around Britain managed to raise just over £430,000 and in total Global raised over £4,000,000! All of this will support small charities doing fantastic work right across the UK! 

Here is Andy’s 8am interview on Heart. 

On top of the opportunity to meet Jamie, we also met Yinka and Shayna the breakfast hosts from Capital Xtra.  A couple of weeks ago they came down to Regenerate and visited the bakery team at work to see first-hand what impact the Bakery has on them and the community. The morning was great fun, they listened to some of the Tevin and Jack’s (TFGB team members) music, interviewed the Regenerate team and made delicious waffles sponsored by Kaspas desserts who are supporters of Global’s Make Some Noise.

Since Global’s Make Some Noise launched in 2014, the national charity has raised more than £16 million and raised awareness for 256 incredible charities and projects around the UK that struggle to be heard. 

Thank you Global Make Some Noise for all your support – this enables Regenerate to continue our work with Young People.

Regenerate Uk Instagram – 

The 2019 Roehampton Festival was once again, a huge success. There was live music from local artists, DJ’s and Roehamptons very first talent show! There were fairground rides and inflatables, a popup farm, sports, creative workshops, delicious food and much more for all ages to enjoy.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped to make the day so special.

Check out the video below and a bunch of photos taken by Nahwand Jaff

As part of our Get Active service, Regenerate runs a 4 week summer programme which includes trips and activities for young people in the community. The summer kicked off with a Garden party and barbeque where young people, staff, volunteers and members of the community came together to share a meal in the recently developed community garden space. It brought the community out and was a great way to set the tone for the summer with Regenerate. 

We hosted 3 trips, the first of which was to an aquatic theme park where kids found themselves awkwardly clambering across a floating obstacle courses. It was a fun packed day in which both the staff and young people really enjoyed. 

Rosie (aged 14) said…

‘It was fun, you had to challenge yourself to do different parts of the course and got to do it with all your friends’

Other trips included a day trip to London, Brighton beach and a concert. In total we took 30 different kids on trips across our Ashburton and Alton estate youth clubs. 

Quote from parent … 

‘Thank you for taking Camron with you and for guiding him, he spoke highly of you and I really appreciate all your hard work with him and his friends’

Alongside our trips, we also facilitated a number of workshops at our youth centres. A stand out event was our spa and wellness evening, exclusive to the girls we’re working with. 

Our summer programme provided a variety of opportunities for young people to experience something beyond life on the estate and to broaden their horizons. It encouraged them to Get Active in their community and beyond and we hope will inspire healthy living, creativity and focus. 

Quote from staff:

‘I think this year’s summer programme was really well received by the young people. All the kids we worked with, either on trips or at the youth centres, seemed to really enjoy having the opportunity to partake in new experiences’

To bring an incredible summer to a close, we hosted the end of summer party in our community garden! Young people, parents and our community friends were invited to make pizza’s, engage in various activities and celebrate our time spent together.

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Saturday, 27th July Nadia a supporter of Regenerate took part in the London Sprint Triathlon!

Nadia’s Story.

“Seeing as Regenerate inspired me, it was only right that I fundraise for the fantastic work they do. I have had the pleasure of getting to know and volunteering for Regenerate over the past few years and know how fundamental they are to their own community as well as other communities they have intimately gotten to know in Kenya and Romania”

“I really wanted to set myself a challenge and push myself out of my comfort zone. In the past exercise and fitness wasn’t even part of my vocabulary! So setting a goal and embarking on a challenge like this really drove me to train consistently and push my limits – it’s been a fantastic experience! Regenerate also hugely inspired me, having seen the way the team have challenged themselves in the past through their Regenerate Journeys”

Nadia, you did an amazing job. A huge thank you for all of your support.
If you are inspired by Nadia and want to do something similar don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can support you in your challenge.

On Saturday 7th September from 2-7pm, Regenerate and Wandsworth Regeneration team are hosting Roehampton Festival on Danebury Avenue Bull Green.

This annual event has been running for many years now. It’s a fantastic day out for the whole family, an opportunity to meet up with friends and for the community to come together and celebrate all that is Roehampton.

This year we have live music from local artists, Enable are running sports activities, a youth zone with it’s own mobile youth centre in the form of a a double decker bus, Kings and Queens (a party for older people) inflatable’s, face painting, a petting zoo for children and much much more!

For more information contact the Regeneration Team on 020 8871 6207.

Check out some festival pictures from years gone by …

Regenerate is looking to recruit an Operations & Administration Intern to work full-time at its SW London base for 12 months commencing in early September (no later than Sept 13, 2019).

Thanks to funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation, Regenerate has created this internship to provide a unique opportunity to gain invaluable and varied experience working for a leading youth charity.

This internship will suit anyone at an early stage in their career who is keen to gain valuable experience working in a small organisation and interested in learning about a youth charity. Whilst this is an opportunity to see a wide range of aspects of its work, the role will focus on the operations and systems required to support the charity.

If you would like more information about the role please view the Job Description and apply using our Application Form and Equal Opportunity form and send these plus your CV to intern@regenerateuk.co.uk or if you have any questions please email us at intern@regenerateuk.co.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Regenerate is delighted to announce that we, alongside The Prince’s Trust, were nominated by the Wimbledon Foundation, the official charity of the All England Club and The Championships to perform the Coin Toss at Wimbledon this year.

Helen Parker, Head of the Wimbledon Foundation, said:

“One of the Wimbledon Foundation’s core goals is developing young people. Regenerate and the Prince’s Trust are two organisations whose mission is to help young people to fulfil their potential and we are delighted to be able to give Marni and Omar, and the two fantastic charities they have been supported by, this amazing opportunity to take centre stage at The Championships.”

In January 2019, Regenerate was awarded a three-year grant from the Wimbledon Foundation to fund their mentoring programme for young people affected by mental health issues helping them to grow in confidence, improve their self-esteem and develop leadership skills.

Marni Johnson (aged 13) and a member at Regenerate, will perform the coin toss at Ladies’ Singles Final on Centre Court on Saturday 13 July, representing Regenerate.

Marni said:

“When I walk onto Centre Court I’ll feel a little bit nervous because I’ve never had an opportunity like this before but I’ll also feel excited as it’s a good opportunity to try something new.”

The Coins themselves have a very special background story …

The AELTC commissioned two bespoke gold coins, featuring the Mission 56 logo on one side, and The Championships logo on the other. They travelled with Feustel aboard Mission 56 to the International Space Station last year, with Feustel interviewed live from space during The Championships 2018. The coins have now safely returned to Earth and will be used in the pre-match coin toss at the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Singles Finals at The Championships, Wimbledon.

A team from Regenerate made up of young people from our Get Leading program and some of our supporters, are currently on a mammoth cycle ride from London to the Pyrenees mountains!

On Saturday, the 13th July, the team will be cycling up the Tourmalet and taking part in a stage of this year tour de France!

To sponsor the team who are raising funds for Regenerate’s youth services, please visit our Just Giving Page .

Last week Regenerate hosted a trip to Romania for a group of students from Ark Putney Academy (APA).

Every year Regenerate takes a group of students to visit Soard, a Roma community on the outskirts on a town in Transylvania. People there live in poverty. Many have no running water, electricity and find it hard to get work and fend for their families. Regenerate works with Dare to Dream a local charity based in the community who set up projects to support families and look after children, helping them to improve their living conditions and build hope for the future.

This years group from APA hosted a fun-packed holiday club for the children in the village. In temperatures over 30 degrees heat, they ran a sports day, prepared food for the feeding programme, organised arts and craft and played games with the children.

It had a big impact on the group. Here’s what some of them had say …

“It’s has been really good trip and experience. It has been good to meet the children and see how another community lives. It has been really eye opening.” Maia

“It was rewarding to see how the kids reacted when we gave the kids a sandwich with it is such a basic thing but they were so happy and it was a great feeling that they felt so happy to see up and meet us.” Layly

“I really enjoyed it, it was my first time on a plane and first time meeting children from a community like Soard. They were all really nice and welcoming and this was very surprising.” Marney

“I have really enjoyed meeting the kids again and especially the sports day seeing the whole community get involved.” Cameron

Get Helping provides experiences that takes young people outside of their comfort zones and challenges them to go beyond themselves to develop resilience, tolerance and confidence through being in a different culture.