View source for Help For Heroes

[[Category:Service Charities]]
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'''Help For Heroes''' is a service charity set up and run by '''Bryn Parry''' and his wife Emma.  The charity has currently raised over £6.8 million.

==Who Runs It?==

Bryn - a former [[RGJ|Royal Green Jackets]] [[Officer|officer]] - and his wife Emma wanted to do something to help wounded servicemen and women and came up with the idea of a sponsored bike ride. They mentioned it to some friends who mentioned it to some more friends and suddenly Help For Heroes was born and growing fast. A flurry of visits to various offices led to the campaign being blessed by the head of the army, [[CGS|Chief of the General Staff]], General Sir Richard Dannatt.

'''Help For Heroes''' is backed by the [[Army Benevolent Fund]], the Army’s own charity that does wonderful work for soldiers and other servicemen and women both directly and through its support of [[:Category:Service Charities|other service charities]].

==FAQs==
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===Why is Help for Heroes raising [[money]]?===

People want to help the servicemen and women who are being wounded in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]]. H4H provides a focus for that desire to help.

===Surely we already have a great number of service charities helping in this way?===

Yes, there are a number of wonderful service charities doing great work for all who serve and have served in the Armed Forces. We are focussed on the current casualties in particular and our funds will directly benefit serving servicemen and women. We hope to encourage donations from the general public who do not normally donate to the service charities. H4H is independent of the services and is therefore able to give funds to any service charity or facility where a need is identified.

===I usually give money to one of the existing service charities; should I give my money to H4H instead?===

Certainly not, please continue to support your favourite charity but if you are feeling generous, then we would be very happy if you could support us as well!

===How do I know my donation will be used properly?===
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Donations are paid into Help for Heroes account which is monitored by our Board of Trustees. Once we have enough, we will have great pleasure in writing a great big cheque and handing it over to the Trustees of [[Headley Court]] to help towards them building the gym and pool complex. Once that is achieved we will provide grants to other projects as identified by the trustees working closely with the [[MoD]].

===How much of my donation goes towards administration?===

As little as possible. We have been very lucky to be given offices, telephones, stationery and computers by donors so we only have to cover the running costs. Where we can, we ask suppliers to provide their services at cost and we have a list of those who have helped on our ‘Thanks’ page. The ABF have provided us with ‘seed corn’ money to pay a number of key staff a consultancy fee on an hourly rate but frankly, no one in our offices is doing this for the money!

===If it’s not the money, then why are you doing this?===

Many of the team at H4H have a connection with the [[Armed Forces]]. Some of us have children or family in the Army, Navy or Air force. We want to help in whatever way we can and by working at H4H we feel we are doing something practical to help.

===I see there is a link to Bryn Parry Studios and they are producing products for H4H; what’s in this for them?===
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Help for Heroes was the idea of Bryn and Emma and they are heading up the appeal. They focussed on this project, day and most of the night, since its conception at the end of July, both unpaid and at some risk to their own business. They believe, having met several of the wounded, that this is a worthwhile cause and worth the sacrifices to make it a huge success.

Bryn has designed various money raising products for Help for Heroes; all the retail profit goes to H4H. If you find the products in the shops we have arranged that a percentage of the sales price have already been donated to H4H.

In order to keep costs down, all the H4H gift items will be despatched from Bryn Parry Studios until such time as the sheer volume might necessitate fulfilment from another company and we will negotiate the best price for that when and if that becomes necessary.

If visitors to Bryn Parry Studios’ website choose to buy some of Bryn’s other cartoon products while they are there, then we think that is fair enough!

===I see that a swimming pool at Headley Court is mentioned as one of the projects. Why?===
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When we met with the head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, we asked him what we could do to help. He asked us to raise a great deal of money and some of that would be used to help build a pool. Currently, there is a hydrotherapy pool but a full sized pool would enable the wounded to benefit from swimming as part of their rehabilitation.

At the moment, the servicemen and women are taken to the local leisure centre to use their pool. Headley Court also urgently needs to replace the Falklands gym, which is over 20 years old, and part of it is of a very temporary nature. We hope that we will be able to raise enough from this appeal to build a wonderful modern gym and pool complex.

Help for Heroes will not be involved with the design, planning, construction or maintenance of the gym and pool complex. We have been asked to raise funds to help pay for it and will hand those funds to the right people to get on with making it happen. General Dannatt assures us that if we can get the money, the wounded will get their gym and pool, and that, as they say, is good enough for us!

===Why is the MOD not providing the money for the complex?===

It is all a question of priorities. There is only so much money available and there are other projects that are vital while the gym and pool are lower on the ‘wish list’. If we can add our funds to the pot, then our wounded can have both the ‘absolutely vital’ and the ‘good to have’. More to the point, the sooner we can add our funds, the faster we can get all the facilities we feel our wounded deserve.

===If the Head of the Army is backing this, does that mean my donation only benefits soldiers?===

No, the H4H funds can be used to benefit the [[Royal Navy]], including the [[Royal Marines]], the [[RAF|Royal Air Force]] as well as the Army.

===Who will decide what the money is spent on?===

We are talking to the [[General]] in charge of all the wounded and we will work closely with him to ensure the money goes to where it will be best used.

===How can I help?===

There are several ways you can help.

*We would be delighted to get your money! All you need to do is click on the [http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/donations.html donations button] and then use your plastic to part with as much of your hard earned savings as you can spare. We use Justgiving as our preferred method of donation as it is simple, relatively cheap and easy to give Gift Aid, which means we get an extra 28%. If you prefer to send a cheque that is fine, please [http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/H4H_Donation_Form.pdf download the Gift Aid form] on the donations page and then send it to our address you will find on that page.

*Organise your own event and raise money for the appeal in your own way. Details can be found on [http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/eventregistration.html our events page].

*By offering a practical gift or service. We have our Help a Hero page where you can make a real difference.

===I have thought of something you haven’t!===

Clever you! Email us your question and we will get back to you with an answer. Email link [mailto:info@helpforheroes.org.uk here].

==Help A Hero!==

Just click [http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/helpaheronb.html here] and leave a message on the messageboard!

==How To Donate==

*[http://www.justgiving.com/H4H Online with ''JustGiving'']
*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/donations.html H4H Linkpage]

==Downloads==

*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/H4H_Donation_Form.pdf Donation and Gift Aid Form]
*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/H4H_Leaflet.pdf Help for Heroes Leaflet]
*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/H4H_Booklet.pdf Help for Heroes Booklet]
*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/H4H_Poster.pdf Help for Heroes Poster]
*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/SPONSORFORM1.pdf Sponsorship Form Part 1]
*[http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/downloads/SPONSORFORM2.pdf Sponsorship Form Part 2]