We understand that helping others makes you feel good about yourself- it's a win/win thing. As company Genus Care has vowed to undertake at least one company-wide fund-raising event per year, plus each of our homes does the same on a smaller scale. It goes without saying that the children are encouraged to participate and help us select which good causes should benefit.

Ty Hafan

Since 2006 we have committed orur fundraising efforts to Ty Hafan a Welsh Children's Hospice. The work they do is an inspiration to everyone and they rely almost entirely on donations to operate. To date we've raised over £15,000 and were recently awarded Pay for a Day status - this means we've raised over enough money to pay for an entire day's running of Ty Hafan. Our aim is to carry on supprting them for as long aws we can

Mumbles Raft Race (R.N.L.I)

In hindsight we should have seen this was not going to be easy when it took us four attempts to build and finally be happy with the raft☺.

With a crew of 6 we arrived at Mumbles supported by a few colleagues, family friends and of course our top of the range raft THE SINKING SUNFLOWER. We then saw that our raft was not in the same league as most of the other rafts (think south conference and then premier league). Undeterred and with advice from our one legged coach we entered the sea and took our place on the starting line, the next 10 minutes is a bit of a blur and chaos.

The race started and for 10 minutes we held our own and stayed at the front, Tesco's raft, Nev and the call centre's raft all of them continued to bombard us with eggs, flour and water bombs but we held on. Then due to what we as a crew feel was a design fault (nothing to do with us not having a clue) our raft decided to change it's direction and float out to sea instead of a direct line to the finish.

Although out of the running for a top 3 finish (or even a finish☺) we were happy to carry on and try to get there. The first two occasions the lifeguard's offered us a lift in they accepted our choice of carrying on but they were very insistent on the 3rd occasion and seeing as we were probably closer to Aberavon Beach than Knab Rock we let them help us in. We were dropped off before the finishing line and made our way up the ramp with the raft being cheered and clapped like heroes. All in all a fantastic day and a great laugh on the raft, lessons learned for next year and a promise to come back stronger and better prepared for next year.

To complete this we had a day at Tenby life guard station to hand the cheque over and even got to go on the boat and try out the clothing they have to wear (Abby and Connor never looked so at home☺) this was finished with traditional fish and chips and on the way home we discussed plans for our new sleek and operational raft for next year ☺

Monday 21st of July, Ynys-Y-Bwt took on a Challenge for Charity.

The Challenge was a 1000km (yes, one thousand!!) team Triathlon over 48 hours.

We started with a 07:00am Swim at local swimming pool. After two hours and feeling quite tired we moved on to the local cycle track where we all cycled back and fore, for 6 hours completing tons of Kilometres. On day two the team set off from Ynys-Y-Bwt to complete a 13 mile walk ending back at the home and overall completing the 1000km we had to achieve. Everyone contributed and shared the aches and pains for days afterwards! After 48hours and completing the challenge Ynys-Y-bwt raised £436 for Y-Bont charity based in Bridgend looking after Children with Disability.

Bed Push

On Saturday the 6th September the staff & kids of Station Cottage with some other helpers took on the challenge of pushing a bed on wheels the five miles up and back the Glyncorrwg cycle path whilst dressed in a onesie or pyjamas! We did this in aid of raising money for SNAC (special needs activity club) which is based in Port Talbot.

SNAC is a charity set up by parents living in the area who were unable to find leisure facilities in the area for people with special needs. Although the first wheel of the bed fell off only 50 yards into the task and we ended up carrying all sorts of bits and bobs up and back everyone had a great time and we where able to raise the sum of £335.46.

On Friday 26th a few of us where invited to visit them and got to meet the staff and the centre users and we were able to present them with the cheque. Many thanks to all those who took part and who generously gave.

The Taff Trail

The Taff Trail, a 55 mile cycle track stretching from Brecon down to Cardiff Bay. Often cycled in one go for charity- we decided to walk it in one go in no more than 24 hours!

Setting off at 5pm on October 4th we were 19 strong, including 2 amazing kids, one dog and a social worker. It was cold and dangerous (we had to walk through Merthyr at midnight!) but just after lunchtime the next day we started to stumble into St Davids Hotel, tired and broken. We lost a few on the way (only 5 including a dog) to blisters and fatigue but we smashed it- and raised close to £3000 for Every Link Counts as well. Now, what to do next year….