Melissa – Founder and Director, Bridge the Gap
I’m Melissa. Bridge the Gap Families in Need started as a community group to support children and their families during the lockdown of 2020, due to personal experiences impacting my own family of no access to internet and devices for all to utilise for home-schooling. As a neurodiverse family, it was extremely challenging. I couldn’t bear to imagine how many others were going through the same process. I started to speak to other families, and it became apparent that many were in the same position, or worse. I started with taking £100 out my pocket to help support two other families and one thing led to another. As it grew, I sought funding help from the council to help support other families.
I have a passion for helping others and so despite my health conditions I still get up and fight my illness to continue helping others. I know the struggles I faced for over 11 years not getting help for my family. We were drowning under the educational system because of their disabilities which were undiagnosed at the time. This affected me and my health considerably, impacting upon my mobility. I have had to learn how to walk again properly and to continue to push myself forward so I was not dependent on a wheelchair, or crutches and other aids too much. At times if my mobility does hinder me a bit, I will grab my stick to help balance myself.
My passion for helping others has very much developed from years of working in care and within my community to tackle social issues and bring change to people’s lives. This is something I have been doing for over 15 plus years. I will continue to do so until every child across the country gets support that they desperately deserve, especially those from neurodiverse families as they are affected the most when they cannot voice their concerns.
Seeing the smiles on the faces of those I have supported or messages to say thank you and how much of a difference I have made in families’ lives. It means so much to know that I could make some one’s day or life a little bit easier, to enable them to take baby steps forward to make a change in their family’s situation. It’s very heart-warming to see the impact made. As with so many volunteers, I am just used to helping others but it’s great to see what difference has been made through all the hard work and commitment. All of us at Bridge the Gap are very happy to be part of our community.
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