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Here at Urban supporting local charities and organisations is very important to us.

Over the past couple of years across both Urban Beach and Urban Reef we have supported the following (to name just a few!) by providing raffle prizes:

• Bournemouth People First: www.bournemouthpeoplefirst.co.uk
• Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance: www.dsairambulance.org.uk
• John Thornton Young Achiever's Foundation: www.jtyaf.org
• Julia's House Children's Hospice: www.juliashouse.org
• LV Streetwise Scheme: www.streetwise.org.uk
• Marie Curie Cancer Care: www.mariecurie.org.uk
• Myotubular Trust: www.myotubulartrust.com
• Stourfield Infant School: www.stourfieldinfants.bournemouth.sch.uk
• Willow Foundation: www.willowfoundation.org.uk

However, we were starting to find that we were receiving so many requests for support and charity partnerships that our approach to dealing with them all was becoming a little haphazard! So we went away, had a little think about it and have come up with a solution which we feel makes the selection process fair for everyone that approaches us.

Many of you will know that we have a monthly e-newsletter, well this goes out to over 3,000 of our Urban customers (not signed up? Click here to subscribe). Within this we have a section where we feature two charities per month that have asked for our help. We include a little bit of blurb on each, along with web details so our readers can find out more if they wish. We then ask our readers to vote for which charity they would like us to support for that month and we give away a raffle prize to the chosen organisation.

Hopefully you'll agree with us that this is a good way for both charities involved to get a good bit of publicity, it's also a fair way for us to try and support as many charities as possible each year.

You'll be able to see the charities that we have supported recently below and if you'd like your charity to be considered for a future newsletter, please email charity@urbanreef.com with your details.

This month you can read all about: Ben McCabe who is raising money for Scope and Dee Seabrook, part of local fundraising group The Seabrook Seals.

Ben McCabe for Scope -

Due to various personal reasons Ben McCabe decided that he would like to do something for the benefit of others, so he recently took part in the London Marathon on behalf of charity Scope. Scope is a charity that works with disabled people of all ages across England and Wales.

Having run a couple of half marathons before, Ben increased his training level which enabled him to complete the gruelling London marathon recently. His time was four hours, 8minutes and nine seconds (pretty impressive!) Ben is now focusing his efforts on planning a raffle to raise more money for Scope which will be taking place in May.

Read more about Scope here here.

Dee Seabrook for The Seabrook Seals -

The Seabrook Seals ladies channel relay team are a group of six very lovely ladies (plus an equally lovely coach), who are all extremely passionate about swimming across the English Channel.

In August 2013 they'll be swimming from England to France (which is a distance of 21 land miles!) raising money for two charities, the RNLI and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

To prepare for their challenge, the ladies have been organising lots of 'Swim with the Seals' events and will continue to organise fundraising opportunities over the next year.

The ladies have asked us for a raffle prize to aid in their fundraising activities. Find out more about the group via their Facebook page.

So there you have it, two very worthwhile causes. To vote please click here.

Featured newsletter charities from September 2011 –

• Tibet Culture Trust: www.tibetculturetrust.com

• Diverse Abilities Plus: www.diverseabilitiesplus.org.uk
Chosen charity for September 2011

• Ross Stickland in memory of his friend Alex Lewis and Bone Cancer Research:
www.bcrt.org.uk

• Tracy Bartram who is raising money for the Jigsaw Appeal:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/TracyBartram
Chosen charity for October 2011

• Southbourne Surf Life Saving: visit us at facebook

• East Dorset Mencap: www.eastdorsetmencap.co.uk
Chosen charity for December 2011

• Rosie Smiles who is raising money for Cats Protection:
www.justgiving.com/ROSIE-SMILES

• CRUMBS cafe -
delivering training to adults with mental health issues & learning disabilities:
www.crumbs.org.uk
Chosen charity for January 2012

• Priestland’s School Youth Cancer Trust:
www.youthcancertrust.org

• Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust:
www.braintumourtrust.co.uk
Chosen charity for March / April 2012