Quarterly Funding Report February 2025

The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation is committed to supporting charities serving disadvantaged/ in-need communities in England and Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Republic of Ireland, ensuring that valuable projects are provided with funding to maintain their meaningful work.

Two recipients of AGCF funding at the recent trustee meeting were The Meath Epilepsy Charity and Saint John of God Hospitallers.

The Meath Epilepsy Charity operates a specialist residential care home based in Godalming, Surrey. They support 91 adults with complex epilepsy as residents as well as 30 day-clients.

Those who they support have complex and serious underlying medical conditions in addition to complex epilepsy. 25% are Non-Verbal; 40% Autistic; 99% have Learning Disabilities; 80% have movement issues; and 35% are visually impaired.

Their goal is to ensure that these people receive the support, expert care, and encouragement required to build confidence, and to acquire, develop, recover, or maintain skills that will maximize independence in their daily lives.

Though The Meath Epilepsy Charity provides statutory care, the programme for which they received AGCF funding is not a statutory obligation and does not attract government funding.

This project incorporates their Skills Centre, and Changing Perceptions social enterprise which provides skills training and work opportunities. The Changing Perceptions element offers skills training and work opportunities where they upcycle and repurpose preloved furniture and sell it in their shop unit and run a café. As well as the training and skills development, this project helps to reduce the stigma of disability in the area due to the interaction they have with the local community.

To complement this, The Meath Epilepsy Charity provides Occupational Therapy so that the people they support learn daily routines and day-to day skills that most able-bodied people take for granted. This can include help with making friends, helping them with personal care, learning how to handle money, or more practical skills such as making a sandwich or boiling an egg.

With this support and care, The Meath Epilepsy Charity helps people reach their physical and emotional wellbeing potential, and lead a happy and fulfilled life.

To find out more about the work of The Meath Epilepsy Charity, click here.

Saint John of God Hospitallers received a grant from AGCF in February to support their Here to Help Project, which focusses on suicide prevention for people with autism.

Many people with autism have considerable, and often multiple, mental health problems. Their mental health needs are often overlooked, or misattributed, resulting in unnecessary suffering because of a lack of appropriate support. It is more common for autistic people to think about and die by suicide than non-autistic people, and suicide is a leading cause of early death for autistic people.

Saint John of God Hospitallers established Here to Help in March 2024 as a 12-month project to raise awareness of the risk of suicide for people with autism in the Tees Valley area of the Northeast.

Since establishing Here to Help, they were approached to deliver support to community groups and develop resources which are specific for people with autism, help with access to services, and provide training for family, friends, and educators to better understand the risks. They have developed preventative measures including an accessible website codesigned with people with autism and mental health issues, with downloadable and interactive resources that can be used by family, friends, carers who support people with autism. Alongside this, they run workshops giving people activities to promote mental health and increase awareness.

To find out more about Here to Help, or to read more about Saint John of God Hospitallers, click here.