Vote Now to Help Challengers Provide Vital Play & Leisure Activities for Disabled Children

Challengers are a charity that has the happiness of children at its heart, as their incredible team provides inclusive play opportunities and activities for disabled children of all needs and abilities. This July, you can help them to win the My Favourite Voucher Codes charity poll, and get a fantastic donation of 20% of their profits! Find out more about what activities they provide for disabled children in the UK and how you can help them win this month's charity poll. 

What Is Challengers?

Established in 1979, Challengers is dedicated to breaking down barriers to ensure that all children have access to inclusive opportunities to play, regardless of their impairments or needs. Disabled children and young people are frequently excluded from the same vital opportunities to play and socialise as their non-disabled peers. We provide inclusive play, leisure and early educational opportunities for disabled children and young people, aged 2-18, across Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Greater London. 

What Opportunities Does Challengers Offer for Disabled Children?

Challengers is unique in that they will never exclude a child or young person from their services and will always find a way for them to take part in all the activities that they want to take part in. They ensure that their services are fully inclusive through providing enhanced and thorough training to their staff and volunteers. If a child comes to them with an impairment that they do not already have experience of, they will buy in training to ensure that every child is happy, safe and fully included whilst on scheme.

For many disabled children and young people, social isolation is a major issue which is hard to overcome. They often face exclusion both physically and socially, and are often left feeling very alone. However, at Challengers no one is turned away, and everyone is welcome no matter how severe or complex their needs are. On the contrary, they will go out of their way to ensure they have facilities to make sure they are accessible to the children who have been excluded from other places. Challengers is all about fun, and enabling it for everyone.

Short Breaks for Families 

This charity not only has a huge impact on the young people they help, but their families too. For many of the families, Challengers is their only chance to get a break from everyday tasks which are often made more complex when caring for a child with a disability. Without access to quality short breaks, up to 80% of parent carers of children with learning difficulties will reach ‘breaking point’ where they feel they can no longer care for their child’s ongoing needs (Every Disabled Child Matters, 2015). These families are in desperate need of respite, particularly during the high-pressure summer holidays. Challengers has been described by those that they have helped as a ‘life-line’. Because of them, families get to offer more time to their other children or tackle daily jobs around the home such as cleaning and shopping, which can be much harder when caring for a disabled child. 

By voting for this worthy charity, you would make a huge difference to the families they support, as one parent explains:

 “Tom adores Challengers and is free to have a wonderful time with full support in a safe environment and caring, fun staff. I get the chance to have a break about once a month on a Saturday to go shopping with no kids or meet friends for lunch. This is invaluable to my sanity. I can’t imagine a future without the support of Challengers.” 

Challengers and My Favourite Voucher Codes

Challengers were lucky enough to win the charity vote in March, 2017. The donation that they received from My Favourite Voucher Codes last year paid for eleven hours of play for a disabled child who was frequently excluded from other mainstream leisure settings. We think it is so generous  of My Favourite Voucher Codes to give 20% of their profits to charity, initiatives like this are so important to charities like Challengers and they allow them  to continue their support of disabled children and young people.

In January 2019, they took part once again in their charity poll and came in first place, winning a donation of £145.94. 

How Can I Support Challengers? 

This July you can help Challengers to win the My Favourite Voucher Codes charity poll by casting your free vote for this fantastic charity. When you do, you bring them one step closer to winning 20% of our profits this month and making a difference to the lives of disabled children. 

There are many other ways you can lend your support too, such as becoming one of their Volunteers. There are many voluntary roles available from fundraising to engaging in the play activities directly, so get in touch with the team if you want to join the team as a volunteer. 

You can also support them through raising funds, making a donation or hosting an event, and you can find out all about the many ways to lend a hand to this incredible charity on their Support Us page. They are grateful for every volunteer, fundraiser and supporter, and by helping this fantastic charity you are making a positive impact on the lives of disabled children and their families. 

How Can I Find out More About Challengers?

Find out more about their incredible work by visiting their website and seeing how you can make a difference. You can also get in touch with their team if you want to find out more about the opportunities that they provide and visit their Events page for up to date info on what exciting events are going on. 

We are delighted to be welcoming Challengers back for their third charity poll with them for the month of July 2023. Cast your vote for them in this month's poll and help them provide more inclusive play opportunities for disabled children, much needed family breaks and opportunities for children of all ages and abilities. Head over to our Homepage to cast your vote today and help Challengers to support children and families in the UK.