Leading disability charity offers life-changing opportunity following university partnership

National leading disability charity, Hft, is going above and beyond to raise money for its charity as it has just secured three university partnerships – offering students a once-in-a-lifetime experience to help those most in need.

Hft have partnered with Bristol, Hull, and the London School of Economics (LSE) for the 2022-23 academic year. The charity has been selected as a challenge partner for all three institutions through ‘Choose a Challenge’ – an adventure travel provider.

The reason behind forming a partnership was to encourage university students to specifically sign up for the UK Three Peaks Challenge which will see them climb 5,200 feet, taking on the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales across June and July this year.  

All students who take on this challenge will raise funds for Hft and the work it does to support adults with learning disabilities to live independently, whilst also helping the charity to engage with a wider, younger audience.

Emma Macdonald, Community Fundraising Manager at Hft, said: ‘We all have hopes and dreams for the future. But it’s not so easy for people with learning disabilities to make them happen.

‘These partnerships will make an incredible difference to the lives of the wonderful people we have the pleasure of supporting and will enable us to help them live their best possible lives.

‘From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.’

In addition to Hft attempting to raise more funds to help support people with disabilities, today £49m of extra funding was announced for Cambridgeshire in a bid to create new school places for children with special educational needs (SEND).

Cambridgeshire County Council’s bid for extra money came through a process known as a ‘Safety Valve’. Under the agreement – struck with the Department of Education – the local authority will use the funds to balance its budget for children with addition needs by 2026-27.

The council claims that if funding was not granted, the local authority would have had to make widespread cuts in its support for children with SEND.

Against this backdrop, the news that have surfaced about Hft and Cambridgeshire County Council shows authoritirs and organisations across the country are attempting to do more to help provide a high quality of life for people with a disability.

Established in 1962, Hft is a national charity supporting more than 2,500 adults with learning disabilities – the organisation uses its own unique Fushion Model to consistently deliver high quality, person-centred support across its services.

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