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Hello and welcome to our first 2016 Newsletter. 2016 is a very special year for Aspire as we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary! Since Aspire began in 2001 we have transformed thousands of lives in Oxfordshire and together, with your support, we have built a stronger and more cohesive local community. We are planning lots of exciting new events and campaigns this year so read on to find out more!
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Become a Friend of Aspire
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To mark our 15th Anniversary, we are launching a brand new membership scheme: The Friends of Aspire.
By becoming a Friend of Aspire, you will be part of a passionate, inspiring and highly effective movement of people committed to tackling inequality and giving Oxfordshire’s most marginalised people a voice in our society.
“Being part of Aspire is like being picked up, dusted down and faced forward! I feel like I’m a person again, with hopes and goals to achieve. Without Aspire I would be lost.” Clare Ellis, Aspire trainee
Your annual membership fee will help Aspire Oxford to plan effectively for the future and will help to fund our life-changing work. We can offer a range of membership options:
- Individual membership: £25 per year
- Family/household membership: £40 per year
- Corporate membership: £250 per year
- Lifetime Friend: £1,000 one off gift or £250 per year
Our Friends of Aspire will receive a great range of benefits, including:
- A welcome letter and regular newsletters
- A copy of our annual social impact report
- An invitation to an annual Aspire event alongside staff and trainees
- Corporate and Lifetime Friends will have their names listed on our website and social impact report
- Lifetime Friends will receive an exclusive invitation to an Aspire event with our Senior Management and Board of Trustees
We understand that not everyone will be able to support us financially. You can help Aspire Oxford achieve our social mission through volunteering, pro-bono professional support or mentoring. Every contribution you make as a Friend of Aspire will make so much difference to our life-changing work.
To become a Friend of Aspire, simply click here or call 01865 204450 and we can arrange to send you a form. Thank you!
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The Aspire Accumulator Challenge
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Aspire Oxford is launching an exciting new business and enterprise challenge, the Aspire Accumulator Challenge. We will give each team that signs up a £50 stake and 3 months to turn this into as much profit as possible for Aspire.
The Challenge will run from Monday 22nd February – Friday 20th May.
We are looking for secondary schools, colleges and companies across Oxford to take on the challenge which is perfect for team building, developing business skills and encouraging entrepreneurial thinking. Each team will be given a fundraising pack and ideas to get them started – then let the challenge begin!
To find out more please click here or call 01865 204450 to sign up. This initiative is kindly sponsored by Natwest.
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"I feel so much better, in body & mind" - Amy's story
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Aspire supports men & women in Oxfordshire's Drug & Alcohol Recovery Service to improve their self-esteem, self-confidence and employability, working with 'Turning Point' on the Get Connected project. Aspire also operates the 'Active Body, Healthy Mind' project to help improve people's mental wellbeing through sport. Here, Aspire client Amy Priest talks of her own experiences.
“It is hard to explain how I feel on the inside whilst looking fine on the outside. I have battled with depression since my teenage years and I had dealt with it in all the wrong ways. I have been in recovery for nearly 10 years now and I am dealing with my issues and illness in the right ways.
After bereavement counselling, CBT and one-to-one therapy I started engaging with Turning Point who have been brilliant. Alongside my progression I was appointed as the Service Forum lead, which has kept me busy and given me a focus.
In May 2015 I signed up to the Get Connected programme through Aspire and I am currently doing boxercise on Mondays in Banbury at Dave Earle's ‘Spit n Saw Dust Gym’. On Tuesdays I do boxercise in Oxford and I also do a Boot Camp session on Wednesdays back at Spit n Saw Dust. I can't thank Jamie Hamilton, my Employment and Development Worker at Aspire, enough for getting me back in the gym.
Through the ‘Active Body Healthy Mind’ scheme I am about to complete an assistant boxing coaching course which will then lead to me becoming a fully-fledged boxing coach. I am currently doing work experience at Spit n Saw Dust Gym and I am really enjoying working with Dave Earl. I am so grateful for the opportunities that the 'Get Connected' and 'Active Body Healthy Mind' programmes have given me and I do feel so much better, in body and mind.”
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Aspire Now Providing Professional Services to GLL in South & Vale
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Aspire is delighted to announce we are now working with GLL to provide their South & Vale leisure centres with our professional services. Here's what Mark Trahearn, GLL Facilities Manager, had to say:
"We approached Aspire last year as we had a void in our skill set for undertaking general maintenance works in our leisure facilities in South Oxfordshire & Vale of White Horse. We were very pleased with the speed and professionalism in which our query was dealt with and impressed with the delivery, quality and price of the work that has been undertaken.
It is refreshing to work with a social enterprise similar to ours who operate by the same values that we do in providing opportunity to the local communities that it serves. Needless to say, we are continuing to work with Aspire on what has become a daily basis."
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Aspire Gift of Hope Christmas Appeal Raises Over £18,000!
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Our first ever Christmas Appeal in partnership with Oxford Homeless Pathways was a great success. We raised over £18,000, with our wonderful supporters making generous donations and organising fundraising events to help us smash our target! Aspire staff, volunteers and trainees all took part and came together for our annual Christmas Street Collection across Oxford City Centre.
We’d like to thank everyone who supported us so generously - you are amazing!
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Aspire's Jamie Hamilton Shines in Awards Season
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We are very proud of Employment and Development Worker Jamie Hamilton who has won two prestigious awards for his outstanding work. On 28th January 2016 Jamie won the overall Employee of the Year award in the Plus One Personnel Oxfordshire Employee of the Year awards. Aspire Oxford was also a finalist in the Employer of the Year category and shortlisted for the Commitment to Employment award.
Jamie has also won the High Sheriff Contribution to Community Life award with a ceremony planned in February 2016. Both awards were given to Jamie in recognition of his tireless work supporting Aspire’s trainees into employment and promoting sports and physical activity through a major Sports England contract that Jamie has helped to deliver in Oxfordshire called Active Body Healthy Mind. Huge congratulations Jamie – we are so proud of you.
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Aspire Trainee, Clare Ellis, Writes Guest Blog
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We are really delighted that our inspirational trainee Clare Ellis now writes monthly blogs for Aspire. Clare loves creative writing and is a fantastic ambassador for Aspire. So far Clare has written blog articles about her own experience of being homeless at Christmas, the idea of new beginnings and, most recently, 15 ways to support Aspire in our 15th Anniversary Year! Look out for Clare’s monthly blog on Aspire’s website.
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