At the end it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back

–  Denzel Washington

In a world where a lack of clean drinking water kills over 2 million children a year and nearly 1.6 million children live in severe poverty in the UK, LWM (and the LWM Charitable Trust) aims to make a difference by:

  • Funding well managed projects which help to relieve poverty
  • Supporting disadvantaged children
  • Making a positive difference to people’s lives

Since launch LWM has contributed over £100,000 to charitable causes (either via the charitable trust or directly). This is funded through a proportion of the profits each year.

Below are some of the projects we have, or are, currently supporting:

A project chosen by Paul.

Charity: water brings clean and safe drinking water to people in need around the world, improving health, education and opportunity – especially for women and children.

The charity works on the belief that clean water changes everything.

663 million people in the world live without clean water.

That’s nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide. Or, twice the population of the United States. The majority live in isolated rural areas and spend hours every day walking to collect water for their family. Not only does walking for water keep kids out of school or take up time that parents could be using to earn money, but the water often carries diseases that can make everyone sick.

But access to clean water means education, income and health – especially for women and kids.

Working with local experts and community members to find the best sustainable solution in each place where they work, whether it’s a well, a piped system, a BioSand Filter, or a system for harvesting rainwater. And with every water point they fund, their partners coordinate sanitation and hygiene training, and establish a local Water Committee to help keep water flowing for years to come.

We were approached by one of our clients to fund transportation costs for the charity.

This is a small UK based charity which was set by Berni and Dougie Leggett. They live in the UK but also have a property in Bulgaria. It was as they immersed themselves in the local community that they got to know about the Dimcho Debelianov Orphanage.

The plan was to bring goods to the children (clothes, books, toys etc) – what started out as a trailer of goods turned to being a lorry of goods! This started in 2008 and has continued each year since. They now support 21 organisations which includes 9 orphanages as well as 4 disability centres, various poor villagers, a hospital and doctors surgeries.

This charity is not about money it is just about helping children in Bulgaria but it also brings together the community where they live in the UK who help to collect goods and raise the transport costs.

Although this was a one-off contribution George continued to stay in contact with the charity and to support ad-hoc campaigns until the charity started to wind down its activities.

A project chosen by George.

Homelessness can happen to anyone, and often it is made worse because there is no support mechanism in place. Emmaus is a national charity which not only offers homeless people the opportunity to help themselves but also others.

The individuals are called companions and are provided with accommodation and work with the primary aim to enable them to move to independent living. More importantly once companions move to independent living they are never alone, the charity is there for them even after they have moved on.

For two years we provided general funding for the charity although we are not currently funding any projects with them.

A project chosen by Paul and George.

Little has been done in the UK to tackle financial education, from basic budgeting to more complex issues around financial plans and investing.

We believe that this needs to change. Initially we believed we could ‘change the world’ but now realise that small steps can make a big difference.

To read more click here

A project chosen by Paul and Amy (Paul’s daughter).

James House aims to assist those families which have fallen through the cracks and receive no assistance from the government (both locally and nationally).

To date we have funded equipment and a youth worker.

Amy has personally visited the charity and spent time helping the staff. She also raised money for project when she climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. Currently we are not funding the charity

Introduced to us by one of our clients this is a project managed by George.

The charity aims to assist the local community, in the extremely poor Kanamai District of Coastal Kenya, by providing: Free Education, Sanitation, Clean drinking water, Basic Healthcare, and Employment. It has helped to build and fund a school as well developing a farm and basic healthcare.

We don’t support the charity directly with funds but George has acted as a trustee in the past and provided support delivering a new website as well as marketing communication. We have also helped with the accounts.

The founders of the charity actively involve their local community in Portishead in raising money and equipment for the project. A recent example was sending grain to help families who have suffered from heavy rain and unemployment. They also work closely with local schools in Bristol.

In 2014 we part funded students from Bedminster Down School in Bristol to travel to the Little Angels School which the trust supports. The political situation forced the trip to be cancelled however they were able to visit a school in Tanzania. Their project was to convert an old brick making the room into a library and working space for the children.

Bedminster Down School covers a deprived area in Bristol and this experience was life changing for the students. Students experienced the extreme poverty of the region, making them appreciate not only what they have but also the free education that they get.

A project chosen by Nicola.

Motivation is an international development charity supporting people with mobility disabilities. Their high quality, low-cost wheelchairs are designed specifically for use in developing economies.

Initially we provided general funding for the charity. We then funded a mini bus for an offshoot of the charity based in Cape Town, South Africa. This vehicle is vital for their work as it enables them to reach out to people living in the townships that have been affected by disability.

Nicola has personally raised money for the project completing a 100km bike ride in London, and climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.

Knowle West and the surrounding areas are considered some of the most deprived areas in Bristol. The area suffers from drug related problems and anti-social behaviour. Many young people end up being excluded from school.

The Park, and Youth Moves which operates within the Park, offers a multi facilitated environment providing education for those with special needs and or learning difficulties. It is committed to finding educational alternatives to children who do not cope within the school environment, finding jobs and assisting them through tutoring and mentoring to gain access to courses to gain qualifications.

Although there is a focus on young people the Park also extends to the community and provides a number of facilities including a gym and crèche as well as an annual Christmas party for the elderly residents.

We provided general funding to the Park which has been used towards the Christmas lunch, apprenticeships and one-off events.

We have also sat on the Board of both the Park and Youth Moves and been actively involved with the management of the projects.