THE Isle of Wight County Press is asking you to nominate a favourite local charity - South Wight Area Youth (SWAY) - to share in a massive £20,000 cash giveaway.

Our parent company’s charitable arm, The Gannett Foundation, is providing £125k in cash to support local charities across the country and we are delighted to have a £20k share to give away in the south region.

A team of newspaper editors from across the region, including the County Press's Alan Marriott, selected eight charities to vote on, including the Isle of Wight's own SWAY.

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Now we are putting the power to allocate the cash back into your hands – during November, you are invited to collect tokens from the County Press each week, which can then be sent to collection points across our region or posted.

Each token collected will then be used to allocate cash to the nominated charity – so if your favourite charity collects 50 per cent of all to tokens collected, it will receive 50 per cent of the £20,000.

Since 2014, South Wight Area Youth (SWAY) has been a registered charity that actively reaches out to young people across the rural South Wight from Whitwell to Brook.

The charity aims to give hope and focus to the youth and families of South Wight and seeks to develop young people's skills and talents, helping them become more independent and responsible.

Isle of Wight County Press: SWAY holding a firepit evening.SWAY holding a firepit evening.

SWAY is passionate about getting young people together, giving them opportunities to grow, work, play, and fulfil their potential.

Who runs SWAY?

Run by its members, SWAY has nine trustees, one of which is a full-time youth worker, and another is a part-time family worker.

Where does the charity operate from?

The charity is based out of the Methodist hall in Niton, Wilberforce Hall in Brighstone, and the village hall in Shorwell. Occasionally, local churches are used as bases for celebrations and gatherings.

What does SWAY do?

SWAY seeks to support young individuals going through bad times and will meet one on one for a walk or at a location of choice to try and help young people.

It also seeks to support families with debt advice, school issues, support with court, and help get sponsors for home appliances and equipment by utilising donations or grant funding.

Every fortnight SWAY offers online sessions, like cooking evenings with ingredients supplied by the charity and a winner announced at the end of the session.

In the past year, SWAY has hosted many events and activities.

Triathlons, Minecraft model making, geocaching, kayaking at Newtown, disc golf, butterfly walks, orienteering, head-hunters, barbecues, wildlife walks, Zoom baking, kayaking, raft building, firepit evenings, and tennis and football tournaments, to name a few!

Due to Covid and the restrictions imposed, the charity was prevented from visiting the Lakes as planned last year but took the opportunity for a visit this year.

Every Wednesday, SWAY members host assemblies for the children at Brighstone CE Primary School.

However, many young people SWAY support are home-schooled, meaning they do not have much chance to make new friends.

The charity actively seeks to help them make friends, strengthen their social skills, and learn about friendships.

Recent fundraising and costs

Earlier this year Susannah Seely and Didi Nicholson, whom both live in south Wight, raised money for SWAY by sailing 2,000 miles around Great Britain, with a total of £12,500 donated.

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This year, with total costs planned to be around £70,000 for the year but with expected income of just under £56,000, the £14,000 gap was minimised by funding grants from the council, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Fund, Asda Foundation, and the Co-Op Neighbourly Community Fund, as well as a few generous local donations.

What it aims to do

The charity currently operates out of an old container in Chale but members have plans to create a community hub, a small shop, and a cafe. Planning for the new build is set to be submitted to the Isle of Wight Council later this month.

Isle of Wight County Press: SWAY members enjoying a kayaking trip.SWAY members enjoying a kayaking trip.

The aim is to get a community hub up and running in Chale and reduce the difficulties of rural travel by acquiring an electric-powered minibus.

Other plans include early-stage discussion with churches in Ventnor to offer services to the area, but financial and practical support is required from the churches to make it happen.

What would the cash prize mean to SWAY, and how to vote?

Joanna Richards, chairperson of SWAY, said: “A cash prize for SWAY would be tremendous in that it would offer us huge scope to continue the services that we operate in the rural villages.

"A cash prize for SWAY would be tremendous" - Joanna Richards, SWAY

“Please vote for SWAY, and we ask you to do this by taking the coupons that come on in the County Press every Friday and placing them in the boxes that are put out for cash for charities.

“We would like to thank you so much for the support that you are giving to SWAY.”

  • Buy the County Press this week and every Friday in November to find the voting tokens. This week it is on Page 22.
  • The boxes to post them in are found in newsagents across the Island, at Halls Newsagents in East Cowes, Glyn Morgan in Shanklin, Farnsworth Newsagents in Newport, True Wight News in Carisbrooke, McColls Wight Rabbit in Ryde, Vic’s Stores in Nettlestone, Holdings of Yarmouth, Brighstone Newsagent and Coffee Shop, St Lawrence Stores, U Save Supermarket in Ventnor, Niton Post Office, and Chivertons in Cowes.

Isle of Wight County Press: SWAY members in The Lakes.SWAY members in The Lakes.

* SWAY is one of eight charities across the south-west region which will get a share of the £20,000 — and the more you vote for SWAY, the more money it will receive! The other charities are Communicare in Southampton, Winchester Go LD, Bridge Youth Project, The Safe, Will Mackaness Trust, Amelia's Rainbow and the Cornwall Accessible Activities Programme.