4 Apr 2014  •  Our News  •  4min read By  • Mark Topley

We Made It!

CEO of Bridge2Aid, Mark Topley updates us on the success of reaching their £50,000 target following the launch of their urgent appeal.

Hopefully you’ll have heard that we successfully reached our Urgent Appeal target of £50,000 last month.

Back in January, Bridge2Aid were forced to launch an appeal to get us through a particularly tough period in our cash flow brought about by a couple of financial events which severely reduced the funds we had available to operate in 2014. To put the appeal into perspective, the events of last year meant we lost around 25-30% of our planned income for 2014.

I can’t thank people enough for contributing! The immediate response (almost £20,000 was raised within a week) was a huge confidence boost to the team and a great encouragement. The steady growth in the appeal over the subsequent eight weeks has brought us into contact with supporters we hadn’t heard from for a while, but whose lives have been impacted for the better by being involved with the Bridge2Aid family. We also gained new supporters and the organisation is so much stronger than before thanks to the response of the trade and profession.

It’s so encouraging that our supporters are continuing to sign up for our fundraising events as well as organising their own – just like Practice Plan’s Amarillo video! We absolutely could not do the work that we do without such support, and again, I can’t thank the companies enough for continuing to support us.

Reaching the target means that the immediate threat to our work has been addressed. We have successfully been able to fund five dental training programmes in Tanzania between January and the end of March. This has resulted in 27 newly trained health workers who are available to provide access to free emergency treatment to more than a quarter of a million people, where previously there was none.

The appeal has helped enormously, but this year will still be a challenging one for us. We still have some tricky periods to negotiate, and we will, but we need the huge support we’ve seen to continue. So, as we move forward I ask just one thing please continue to walk with us through this period.

Why?

Because we are making a difference.

Because the problem of untreated oral pain remains largely ignored.

What we have seen through the appeal is that the UK dental profession and trade have a strong affinity with Bridge2Aid. They have responded and shown that Bridge2Aid is our charity, and this problem of untreated oral pain isn’t our cause. This is both humbling and very exciting for us because we have a unique opportunity to push back on pain and its prevalence.

If not us, then who?

If not now, then when?

We have worked tirelessly over the past 10 years to bring access to emergency dental care to over 3 million people. Thanks to our volunteers and supporters, we have achieved a great deal, and have the potential to do so much more. But we cannot do it alone.

There will be highs and lows and tough periods in the days, weeks and months ahead, but by sticking together we will make it to the next stage where impact for tens of millions of people will be possible.

Thank you again for all of your support so far and we hope you will continue to support us – there are so many ways to get involved with the Bridge2Aid family and we’d love to have you join us.

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