Sep 21, 2022
Jingle Jam – the world’s biggest games charity event – is returning for a 12th year! We are so excited at Dogs for Autism to be one of their chosen charities this year!
The money raised will springboard our ‘Autistic Youth Independence Programme’, transforming so many more lives, one cheeky puppy at a time!
Bringing together the whole gaming community from the 1st to the 14th of December 2022, streamers across the globe will raise funds for twelve deserving charitable projects – both in the UK and internationally – while sharing the hugely popular Jingle Jam Games Collection. Since 2011, the events have raised a staggering $25 million for dozens of great causes and showcase the huge generosity of gamers, streamers, publishers and developers..
Lewis Brindley, co-founder of Jingle Jam and The Yogscast said:
“We always look forward to this time of year – it’s so great to see everyone pitching in to raise an incredible sum of money for some amazing causes. We have some fantastic projects this year and the money raised through the generosity of the gaming community will have a massive impact. We want 2022 to be the biggest year ever – and to do this we need to get even more people involved in streaming their own Jingle Jam streams during the first two weeks of December.”
Organised and hosted entirely by volunteers, in the first week of December last year twitch.tv/yogscast was the biggest channel on Twitch. The opening three-hour stream of Jingle Cats was watched by over 1m unique viewers and the event is featured heavily on the Yogscast YouTube network and social media platforms with tens of millions of subscribers.
Last year also saw 215 community fundraisers as other creators, charities and games companies ran their own Jingle Jam streams, raising over £480,000. This year anyone will be able to register from 1 December on Tiltify and take part.
This year’s Jingle Jam fundraising period and Jingle Jam charity games collection will support Dogs for Autism, as well as 11 other amazing charities, supporting disabled access to gaming and sport, neurodiversity, cancer research, mental health, tackling bullying, LGBTQ+ issues, and sustainability.
You can keep up to date with all things Jingle Jam on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jinglejam
Follow the official Jingle Jam livestreams in December at https://www.twitch.tv/yogscast
More information at https://www.jinglejam.co.uk/
Sep 8, 2022
Sep 7, 2022
DfA partner Isabella and her assistance dog Storm appeared in the first of
BBC Countryfile’s Ramble Appeal Films broadcast as part of their anniversary show to mark 100 Years of the BBC.
Isabella filmed with the cast and crew of the show earlier this Summer, her film being the first of Countryfile’s Ramble appeal films, on behalf of
BBC Children in Need.
Isabella talks about how her life has been transformed thanks to her specially-trained assistance dog Storm and how he has been a help for both her and her family since Storm moved in!
Storm has been a particular help for Isabella by managing some of the aspects of her autism. Storm has helped with the specific morning tasks that previously hampered the family’s morning routine. Storm’s has enabled Isabella to more easily manage the disabling morning meltdowns that she used to experience. He helps Isabella get up out of bed and get ready in time for the school run. The Ramble Appeal film goes on to explain how Storm is now a valued member of their family.
Children like Isabella are benefiting from the incredible funding that Children in Need gives as an annual contribution to our charity.
If you’d like to help with the BBC’s Countryfile Ramble on 8th & 9th October this year, please visit their
website.
Aug 18, 2022
DfA are delighted to share in Leo’s success! Leo is one of our autistic partners and an incredible young actor.
Leo will be making his screen debut in the soon to be released Netflix film, ‘I used to be Famous’ due for release in September 2022.
Leo, who plays Stevie in the role, is an up and coming young actor, already known for his theatre work and commitments with the National Open Youth Orchestra , who stars alongside Ed Skrein as one of the two main characters in the film by director Eddie Sternburg.
Leo, talented DfA partner, musician and young performer, lives with his DfA autism assistance dog Cashel.
Leo is a creative musician, young performer and sportsman in his spare time, but he still has lots of time for his wonderful assistance dog Cashel when not on set! Autism assistance dog Cashel helps mitigate Leo’s autism, helping him with the specific everyday tasks that he may find challenging.
The film is due for release on Netflix on September 16th! 🌟
Congratulations to Leo and the cast of the show, which highlights the incredible talents people with autism have.
Well done Leo, you’re a super-star at DfA! 🌟 🙌 🌟 Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7zP4ccVxYY&t=34s
For more information about our work at Dogs for Autism, to get involved, sponsor a puppy or be one of our 100 Heroes, please visit our website: www.dogsforautism.org.uk
Aug 10, 2022
I am raising money for a local charity based in Alton Hampshire who train dogs for people with autism (more details below).
I gave birth to my first baby in august 2018 a little girl Olivia. From a very early age I noticed certain things within her development and her development was delayed. I started Olivia at a preschool at the age of 2 and an amazing person called Danielle also picked up on her delayed development and needs. I managed to get a referal to paediatrics and an assessment on Olivia took place in November 2021 and she was diagnosed. I’m a paediatric nurse and know that autism affects a lot of children and families. I chose this charity purely because it’s local to me and money raised will help so much.
I would love my Olivia to be able to watch me but I’m not sure how she would cope so time will tell if she will be watching or not.
Any donation no matter how small is amazing and thank you from me, Olivia and the charity.
Dogs for Autism train and provide assistance dogs, at no charge, for autistic people of any age whose lives will be significantly enriched by such a partnership. Our mission is to have a positive impact on the lives of autistic people and their families, to empower autistic people to realise their individual potential, improve their access to their chosen communities, and to enhance their emotional and physical well-being.
Jul 29, 2022
Dogs for Autism are proud to share
BBC Children in Need‘s video featuring Isabella, one of our autistic partners, with her Autism Assistance Dog, Storm.
Children like Isabella are benefiting from the incredible funding that the organisation gives as an annual contribution to our charity.
Because of your generosity,
BBC Children in Need are able to grant Dogs for Autism the generous general funding for 8 autism assistance dogs a year, every year for the next three years.
As a charity our only limit is financial, so funding such as this makes a substantial contribution to our annual totals. Thank you
BBC Children in Need, this is a life-changing contribution for our partners and their families.
Watch Isabella and Storm
here.
Jun 22, 2022
Dogs for Autism’s (DfA) assistance dog Cashel, enjoyed a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Cashel, accompanied by DfA’s Early Days Manager Gemma, is one of Dogs for Autism’s most recently fully trained autism assistance dog. Cashel and Gemma visited the hospital on behalf of the charity, helping to promote Learning Disability Week.
During the day Cashel met some of the staff and patients on the wards. Great Ormond Street were able to see some of the specific tasks that an autism assistance dog can perform to better benefit their autistic partner, performing on cue from the partner’s behaviours.
Helping to ‘ground’ people when they are emotionally dysregulated by undertaking specific tasks is something that Dogs for Autism dogs are trained to do from a young age.
All the patients Cashel met enjoyed picking him up and giving him a cuddle or two!
Our thanks to the staff and patients at G.O.S.H for making Cashel feel so welcome on his visit and for the kind reproduction of this video.
May 17, 2022
Every year during the first weekend in July, Dogs for Autism asks our supporters to ‘Walk a Golden Mile’ for Autism.
This year, to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, we’re asking our supporters to ‘Walk a Platinum Mile’.
Can you ‘Walk a Platinum Mile’ for us in July and donate £5 for Autism?
Click here to register your interest and we will send you more information about how to take part.
Let’s celebrate Her Majesty’s Jubilee in style!
‘A Paw in the Hand’ for the Jubilee is worth …three cheers to Her Majesty!
Hip, Hip, Horray! Let’s donate today!
We will be ‘Walking a Platinum Mile at the Binsted Fete – see events to find out more!
May 17, 2022
Earlier in April, our CEO Hilary, had the pleasure of opening the recent Lion’s Club Quiz night; a popular event at the Alton British Legion Club, which sees all proceeds donated to local charities. Hilary opened the quiz with an informative talk to the quiz members and introduced the quiz players to one of their beautiful trainee dogs, proudly wearing her Dogs for Autism jacket. On the night the total raised was £500 for the charity which included prizes from a raffle, generously donated by Lion’s members.
Last month Hilary spoke to the Alton Women’s Institute (W.I) and this month in May, Hilary will have the opportunity to share the story behind Dogs for Autism at the next Alton Rotary Club meeting. Planned visits also include the chance for the Crondall First Cubs group to meet some of DfA’s lovely dogs and taking a stall along with more of their fabulous dogs at the Four Marks Jubilee Summer Fete on Sunday 5th June and the Binsted Fete and Dog Show on Saturday 2nd July.
At the Binsted Fete, the Dogs for Autism team will launch a very special fundraising campaign, ‘Walk a Platinum Mile’, a special 1.3-mile family friendly walk to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and raise funds for the charity. Why not bring your four-legged friend and join in the fun? There will be a ‘doggie’ lucky dip and ‘pin the crown’ on the puppy (not a real puppy!), to delight the younger visitors on the day.
Alton Lions Club President, Atul Patel said, “Dogs for Autism is a relatively new local charity which is doing great work in supporting folk with autism – the assistance dogs appear to make such a difference, especially to the lives of young people. We are very lucky to have such an amazing charity operating in Alton and I would like to thank all those folk who came along to the St George’s Day Quiz to support them. Thanks go also to the Royal British Legion Club for hosting the event.”
May 9, 2022
We couldn’t be prouder of DfA partner Izzy and her assistance dog, Storm.
Izzy raised £1000 for us in April, having set herself the challenge to raise over £10,000 for charities across the UK this year.
All money raised by Izzy in May will be donated to CHSF (Children’s Heart Surgery Fund). Isabella was born with a congenital heart condition and had open heart surgery at just 10 days old. Izzy is also the proud partner to Storm, one of our assistance dogs at DfA.
Izzy made a promise to herself to raise £1000 a month for each of her chosen charities in 2022. We are delighted that she chose Dogs for Autism as her first charity last month!
As an assistance dog, Storm has given Izzy incredible confidence to go out and help raise funds for DfA. Last month Storm accompanied Izzy whilst she sold teas & coffees and homemade cakes at her mother’s work.
Well done Izzy, and well done Storm!
Izzy is now a member of our 100 Heroes Hall of Fame and will receive a shiny gold 100 Heroes medal and certificate for all her hard work fundraising for us.
If you’d like to help Izzy, you can visit her Just Giving page
here, which will be open for donations throughout the year.
Apr 26, 2022
Grab your sweat bands and dig out your running shoes!
Dogs for Autism are thrilled to announce a new service with
Run for Charity, launching this Spring.
Join us and be one of our first runners at races up and down the country in 2022!
Are you a park runner, a marathon-man or a weekend jogger? Would you like to help us raise money for Dogs for Autism and have fun at the same time? Are you or your colleagues looking to run for a charity at work?
Whether it’s running for fun with your family or setting yourself the ultimate 26.2-mile challenge, Dogs for Autism have teamed up with Run for Charity, meaning it’s even easier to help us raise funds.
Select your race from our website, register online and wait for your email! It couldn’t be easier to race with us. We’ve even got places at local events near you, so there’s no excuse now!
Apr 20, 2022
April is Autism Awareness Month.
Dogs for Autism have been busy promoting the month by taking part in various activities to help raise awareness and promoting it online.
As well as our ‘A Paw in the Hand’ campaign, launched with a LIVE ‘High Five’ on Facebook on 2nd April which helped raise funds and promoted the awareness of autism, Dogs for Autism has teamed up with the new walking app trundl.
We asked one of our autistic partners to try out the app for us during trundl’s latest ‘community trundl’ with her lovely assistance dog Toby. She gave us some feedback. Here’s her story!
Last week Ellen and her Dogs for Autism dog Toby downloaded the walking app trundl.
trundl is the walking app that ‘gives as you go!’ trundl convert each stride that you take into a donation to your chosen charity, meaning that not only are you exercising but you’re giving to your favourite charity as you walk.
Eager to give it a trial run, Ellen and Toby set off into the town to see what the app was like to use for our autistic partners and their dogs.
Not long into their walk the smell of burgers wafted through the air and caught Toby’s attention! No burgers for Toby this time, but they both enjoyed and lovely cool drink in the sunshine.
Ellen said, “I like technology and thought I’d try the app on a walk through the town with Toby my assistance dog. The notifications were good and very useful. The Community link was great, knowing that so many across the UK are walking for DfA at the same time gave me a reassuring feeling. It’s easy to use, and I would encourage anyone to download it and give it as go. As my dad says in his northern accent, “He’s a good lad Toby!”.
In April a community trundl, (a collective walk for Dogs for Autism) ran for two weeks, designed to amalgamate all the trundl’s that users walked. The collective money was added to by our charity partnership with Oscar Pet Foods. For every walk taken, as part of the community trundl, Oscar’s donated 20p for every kilometre completed. Thanks to their generosity, Oscar’s donated a total of £150 to DfA. The money used will be put towards new training coats and tick & flea treatments for some of the puppies in training.
trundl is available via the app store on your mobile or you can read more on their website: Home – trundl
Look out for the next community trundl coming soon and join in! You don’t have to have a dog to start trundling (but it helps!)
