We are delighted to introduce our very first volunteer that signed up to our ‘Real Superheroes for Kids’ campaign! WAHOOOOOO! 🎉 She goes by the name of Kate ‘Superhero’ Williams-Brown, and has many superpowers including being a first aider (see the pic!). We've been blown away by the response to our volunteer program so far. As it stands we've had 9 volunteers sign up for Gloucester, which is AMAZING! We’re still looking for more volunteers, so if you fancy getting in touch for a chat and to find out a bit more info, head to our website and register your interest: www.superherofoundation.org/real-superheroes/ PS - you don't need to be first aid trained, just a willingness to make a difference to families lives that need our support. (fb)

It’s Adventureman here, & I’d like every single Gloucester person to read this. When I was a kid growing up in Gloucester I spent loads of time in hospital, right up until I was nine years old. It wasn’t much fun, I missed playing with my mates and wasn’t able to see my family as often as I wanted. Sometimes I had to spend Christmas Day or my birthday in hospital and although the doctors and nurses were great, I really wanted to be at home. Now that I’m a parent it makes me realise how tough it must have been for my Mum and Dad, having to leave me alone in hospital when it was time for them to go home. I can’t imagine how they coped with it day after day, week after week, with no end in sight. There are lots of families going through just the same as we did – I know of one married couple with a child that has challenging needs who haven’t been able to spend any time together, not one single date, in over 10 years! And it’s happening right now on our doorstep here in Gloucester. So I’m going to do something to help families who find themselves in this position. But what help do they need? What would have helped my family? WHAT IF… There was a free babysitting and family support service that helped the parents of disabled or unwell kids by looking after the other kids, like the brother or sister in the family, so that their parents could visit hospital; the sitter could do the school pick-up; take the kids to the park, and other stuff like that. Or the sitter, who would be a volunteer, could visit the kid in hospital to give Mum and Dad a rest from all the stress and anxiety, even if it was just to give them time to go home to take a shower? Each sitter would be carefully matched up with only a couple of families so that the volunteer and the family all got to know each other really well. So, through our foundation, we’ve set up real superheroes for kids. Initially in Gloucester, but later in other places too, we’re looking for volunteers to accept the challenge to work closely with the family of a kid that maybe unwell, disabled or have autism. You can DM me here via the Facebook page, or head over to this page and fill in the sign up form and we’ll be in touch, very, very soon 👇 https://www.superherofoundation.org/real-superheroes/ It’ll be tough but rewarding work. (As you can see from this video, there’s a family right now that need our support) Thank you so much! Jamie 😊 (fb)