David Wood from Village Financial Services writes about the moment he was inspired to support Swings & Smiles, and how his business has become a regular corporate supporter of the charity.

"I first became aware of Swings & Smiles when a friend invited me to their annual golf day at Donnington Valley in 2018. A well organised event, on a great golf course with good company, nice food and excellent auction prizes. What is not to like?

So I decided to enter my own team the following year (2019) and took some clients along. The same format, but there was a difference!! One of the parents stood up and thanked everyone for coming. He then proceeded to tell the rest of the room what Swings & Smiles meant to him and his family. The fact that it was an oasis of normality amongst the challenges of raising his family. That it was a visit that the whole family looked forward to, where everyone was happy. Of course there was more to it than that, but we got the point.

So I bid generously again for the auction prizes and went home well fed and watered. But this chap who stood up and spoke so well, with so much dignity, it really drove home what Swings & Smiles actually was! So I contacted Tor Sanders at Swings and Smiles to see if we could understand what projects they need cash for, this would give us the ability to plan for a budget to fund some equipment.

Enter Covid-19!! And a lot of things changed. Thankfully our business after the initial lock down bounced back and we were as busy as we have ever been, but we were aware this was not the case for charities. So we agreed with Tor to make a regular contribution each month so that they could understand they had a regular sustainable income from us. Not a massive fortune, but an income they could depend on. At the time of writing (December 2021) following another profitable year we have made a further lump sum donation. We look forward to supporting Swings & Smiles through 2022 and all being well will be at the golf day.

And to the gentleman who stood up and gave a short talk, well done, it worked………you got me!!

And if you want to follow our projects you can follow us on Facebook."

Thank you so much to Village Financial Services for all their support. If you would like to find out more about how you can become a corporate supporter of Swings & Smiles then we'd love to hear from you! Get in touch with [email protected] to find out more.