A Small Thank You for Making Such a Big Difference

A Small Thank You for Making Such A Big Difference

The E2M Blog no.2- by Kate Bowskill

Establishing a new charity is far from easy. You can have a mission, a vision, all the passion in the world, but the harsh reality is that without money, any mission, no matter how noble, becomes pretty impossible to achieve.

Escape2Make is no different. The profound impact E2M has had on the young people accessing its services so far and the scalability of the charity’s model has grabbed attention on an international scale – the Ex Vice President of Disneyland Paris, The Eden Project, and IKEA to name a few. And so with all of this momentum, ‘now is the time to look at E2M’s foundations and make sure they are really robust.’ – E2M Founder, Jenny Natusch.

This is where our Friends and Funders come in, and we’d like to share some examples of how their generosity is impacting young people today.

Fore and Rank

In 2021, Escape2Make received an incredible £90,000 from The Rank Foundation and a further £30,000 from the Fore, a foundation that provides seed funding for high-quality, impact driven
charities in the UK.

Among other things, this funding has enabled Escape2Make to appoint its first full-time employee, Kyle! Kyle is our Production Executive and his drive and passion has played an integral part in delivering Escape2Make’s services to the young people across Morecambe and Lancaster. Being able to offer Kyle a full-time contract is a significant step for the charity and you can read more about him here!

Mazuma Mobiles

The iPhones donated by this fantastic company back in 2018 allowed E2M to launch its very first Film and Press clubs, which are our most popular clubs to date! More recently, Mazuma have donated a further £1000 which funded the running of Film Club up until December 2021 – including resources, a facilitator, and the production of 3 short-stop motion films.

Here’s what some of the Film Club members had to say about their experience…

“Escape2Make has given me confidence. I feel like I can really be myself.” – Mabel,
12

“I look forward to Film Club because it gives me a couple of hours a week to just
not think about school. It’s a relief”. – Kate, 15

“When I get home from E2M, I feel happier”. – Grace, 13

Thanks to the generosity of Mazuma Mobiles, Escape2Make has not only been able to teach 11-18s the process of filmmaking but it has also inspired a sense of community and genuine friendship.

Lancaster Constabulary

Creative youth provision is proven to reduce anti-social behavior and in turn takes pressure off of the local Police. Partnerships Officer Sergeant 1938 Lindsay Brown said,

“Lancaster & Morecambe Police acknowledges the great need to develop safe and confident communities and would wholeheartedly support a community led initiative to actively support vulnerable young people, improve mental and emotional health in a safe environment such is the vision of E2M”

In light of this, Lancaster Constabulary made a donation of £700 to Escape2Make in 2021. This donation paid for the production of E2M’s volunteer t-shirts. One major benefit of these t-shirts is that they allow the social workers assigned to any of our 11-18s to blend in at workshops. This makes it significantly easier for those 11-18s to integrate themselves with other teenagers, avoid feelings of isolation, and to break down social barriers.

Our Ask!

So these are just a few examples of how Escape2Make’s current Partners are facilitating E2M in impacting our communities. But if Escape2Make is to continue making this positive change we need YOUR help – whether it be providing spaces for workshops, volunteering your services, or donating! We simply cannot do it alone!