Who are we?

The charity was formed in 2006 and is a totally self-funding charity, we rely on people and businesses to raise funds for us so that we can provide the much-needed memory holidays to our families. The way the charity came about is a story you can read on Our Founder page, told to you by the charity founder, Maria Hanson MBE.

Our mission

me&dee has a simple mission, to ensure families going through difficult and uncertain times are gifted with memories they can treasure, never losing sight of what truly matters. Because it’s those special moments shared with the ones we love, no matter how complicated circumstances may be, that are most precious of all.

Soaring demand in our 18th year!

This is me&dee’s 18th year and we’re busier than ever. We were set up to deliver support to 100 families a year but last year we actually supported more than 700 families.

All charities grow and change over the years. They have to. And we’re no different.

That’s why, as we approach our 18th birthday, we’re embarking on an evolving change in direction so that we can respond to the urgent need for our support that we’ve been experiencing over the last few years.

A big part of this is our new “continuing care and support” programme which is helping families in such a huge way. Our Moorways splash sessions are bringing together families whose children may be going through severe issues such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and limb amputations as well as the loss of a young parent. It’s incredibly moving to see children and their family’s bond and relax away from the stares they might get in a conventional swimming session – if they were even able to attend at all.

Creating memories

We’re also taking families for trips at Go Active Falconry at White Post Farm in Nottingham – and again, it’s brilliant to see how much they all enjoy themselves in the fresh air for the day.

We’re now working a lot more closely with the nursing and bereavement teams at local hospitals, providing the right, sensitive support when the worst imaginable happens. Our Hope elephant continues to be an incredible support to so many, with her voice recorder in one ear and space for precious messages in the other. She can also hold a tin in her ear which can hold special items and even ashes for those who have been lost.

All of that is why we have taken the decision to sell our forest-based holiday lodge acquired a few years ago. This lodge has provided some amazing holidays for families who apply to us for help, but it has become clear over the past couple of years that this is not the support we now need to provide. We are needed much more quickly, much more urgently, and much closer to home.

Changing times

For every week’s holiday we can give a family in our lodge, we can provide so much more with the new streams of support we’ve now developed.

We’ll be reinvesting the sale of the lodge back into our charity where its funds are severely needed. Each of our Moorways splash sessions – which mean so very much – cost £700, and they are helping many more people than our lodge ever could.

We’re also no longer taking single applications but through our close involvement with teams in local hospitals, we’re able to help hundreds of people who find themselves in hospital in need of the comfort we can provide, whether that’s through our teenage comfort packs which include lovely clean pyjamas, or mums and dads who really appreciate our sachets of tea and coffee when they have had to drop everything to be with their child.

Our charity is here to provide a comforting hug in your hour of need. And though we’ve changed, that’s what we’ll continue to work hard to give. When memories are all you have left, we’ll continue to work to make sure they’re the best you could possibly have.

Make a memory, make a difference

With your support, families and children facing life-changing and limiting circumstances can find the space to celebrate the precious time they have together.

Family Support

For those who are facing an uncertain future it’s important to create a way of capturing precious memories, those that we all take for granted when life is busy and passing us by.

me&dee realise that the most important thing we can gift is time together as a family, a chance to stop the worries for a day or two, something that can take people out of the situation they find themselves in and capture some smiles, some laughter and those oh so precious memories, to cherish and remember.

Whether that one person in the family is an adult or child, gifting them the time together by way of an experience or treat is what me&dee do.

me&dee – #memorymakers

Gifting families with special memories

We can’t change the difficult times. But together we can help families going through life-changing circumstances to laugh and smile when they need it most, making sure it’s the special times that will always be remembered.

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