Sponsor #TeamCHAC as we take to the streets for the London Legal Walk 2023!

The team at Canterbury Housing Advice Centre (CHAC) will be taking to the streets on Tuesday 13 June for this year’s 10km London Legal Walk. We’ll be raising funds for CHAC, one of many front line free advice agencies being supported by the annual event.

CHAC provides free, confidential and independent advice on housing matters in the Canterbury District with the aim of preventing homelessness.

Our team so far includes: Chloe McDonald, Viv Gambling, John Wightman and Nick Jackson. Ex-Chair Nick Piska has regrettably had to pull out but we’re hoping to be walking alongside colleagues from Canterbury Housing Outreach. Do join us if you can!

We will also be walking with the Lord Chief Justice and thousands of lawyers - the London Legal Walk is the biggest fundraising event in aid of free legal advice and support for everything from Law Centres and Citizens Advice services to refugee specialist support services. 

Over 13.4 million people live in poverty in the UK and advice providers are at breaking point with the growing need from their clients. Many people cannot afford legal help and we believe everybody should be able to receive legal advice when they need it most.

The London Legal Walk raises vital funds to ensure that legal help reaches our community's most vulnerable people. Receiving good legal advice at the right time can make a huge difference to people's lives reducing their chances of facing debt, poverty, homelessness, exploitation and discrimination.

The event supports over 100 legal advice agencies in London and the South East. We know that these agencies do a fantastic job in changing people's lives.

Your support is needed more than ever. Please sponsor our walkers as generously as you are able: Donate online via our page on the the London Legal Walk 2023 website

Thank you for supporting our team in fundraising for the London Legal Walk!

TeamCHAC walks again - London Legal Walk, Monday 18 October

Another day, another sponsorship opportunity…! TeamCHAC will be walking in support of the London Legal Support Trust (LLST) as part of its annual fundraiser, the London Legal Walk 2021 . Trustees Viv Gambling, Tessa O’Sullivan and Nick Piska will undertaking the 10km walk in London for TeamCHAC, along with the hundreds of others who take part in the annual event.

LLST is a charity that raises funds for free legal advice services in London and the South East. CHAC is a LLST Centre of Excellence, and we’re extremely grateful for all the support LLST has given us in recent years - so we’re very happy to come out in support of the LLST. Last time out we raised over £500, so we’re hoping to raise a similar amount this time too. Please help us reach our target and SPONSOR TeamCHAC HERE.

30 for CHAC - (another) sponsored bike ride - Sunday 10 October - please sponsor us (again)!

Canterbury Housing Advice Centre turns 30 this year! 30 years of preventing homeless in the Canterbury District. I’m sure we can dig some stats out, but even on current figures that’s a lot of folk we’ve helped stay in housing or get into new housing.

So we thought we do a small fundraiser (every little helps) called ‘30 for CHAC’. We’re asking folk to do something ‘30 related’ for CHAC at some point in October, tell us about it, get your family and friends to sponsor you, and then use our donations page to donate the sponsorship money. (This is securely provided by CAF Donate.) It could be anything, from a 30 mile bike ride (or walk…or swim or cartwheel - whatever is your desire - and safest) to 30 press-ups (I know, that’s at the lower-end of hard for some people….but for some that would be a challenge worth sponsoring) - at CHAC we’re happy with all legal, ethical and safe fundraising events that bring in sponsorship, so be creative and if there are pictures send them them in.

Or you can join the CHAC peloton (trustees Nick Jackson and Nick Piska plus a few friends of CHAC) who will be cycling the approximate 30 miles from University of Kent to Margate via Crab & Winkle and the coastal path on Sunday 10 October. It will be casual, unofficial (ie look after yourself!) and probably involve the odd pitstop - but please do sponsor us by making a donation to CHAC HERE. If you’d like to join us we’ll be leaving from outside The Venue at 9:30am. If you’re joining us, please encourage friends and family to sponsor you either by donating directly to CHAC via our donations page (securely provided by CAF Donate) or giving you the sponsorship money to pass on to us.

We’re hoping to raise a little money so we can keep providing free, confidential housing advice with the aim of preventing homelessness.

If you have any questions drop the Chair an email: chair@chac.co.uk.

Donations update

As of the 14th October we have raised an amazing £1,135!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated/sponsored thus far. Plenty of time still to donate to the CHAC peloton or to take part in your own ‘30 for CHAC’ fundraiser.

Ending Homelessness in Kent and Medway - free Webinar on 16 September 2020

We’re delighted to announce that CHAC is contributing to a multi-agency free webinar discussing housing and homelessness in Kent and Medway. The webinar, taking place 10am-midday on Wednesday 16 September, will enable participants across Kent and Medway to discuss and plan for how to end homelessness, how to build on the progress made during the pandemic, and how to prevent homelessness increasing as economic difficulties mount. In additional to CHAC, speakers include experts from Kent Housing Options Group, local and national charities, and the University of Kent.

Sign up for the free webinar at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ending-homelessness-in-kent-and-medway-tickets-89601896685

Download the event poster here.

Ending Homelessness poster.jpg

KM Big Bike Ride - POSTPONED to 11 October 2020

UPDATE

Due to coronavirus/covid-19 the KM Big Bike Ride has been postponed to October. TeamCHAC will still be taking part - if you’d like to join the team email fundraising@chac.co.uk. And please do sponsor us - we will need to raise a lot in the coming months as we envisage a rise in the number of people needing our help.

TeamCHAC rides again! We’re sending a peloton of riders to Betteshanger Park to take part KM Big Bike Ride (50km). We’re hoping for a quite a good turn out and to raise some money for CHAC. It’s a fun day out and Old Nick has promised a post-bike ride BBQ.

KM Big Bike Ride logo.jpg

Sign up for the ride and join Team CHAC here: www.kmcharityteam.co.uk/booking  (select Canterbury Housing Advice Centre in the  ‘Supported Charity’ drop-down). Once signed up go to https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com to register with Virgin Money Giving and then set up your own fund-raising page for the event or, better still, email Peter Ash (our fundraising guru) on fundraising@chac.co.uk and he will add you to TeamCHAC  fundraising page.

To sponsor TeamCHAC go to your fundraising page here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/CHAC

Christmas Party Fundraiser - 5 December 2019

We’re holding a little Christmas Party on 5 December to raise a little money. There’ll be drinkies, nibbles, music, a raffle (oooh!) and, err, Christmas Jumpers (?!) which trustee and chief party organiser Pete Ash is well excited about. We’re really grateful to local photography legends Light & Imagination for their support (particularly for letting us use their space for the evening!)

Tickets are £10 (plus booking fee) and can be purchased here via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chac-christmas-party-tickets-79687341985?aff=ebdssbeac. For updates etc check out The Facebook .

TeamCHAC is taking part in the London Legal Walk, 17 June 2019 - please sponsor us!

TeamCHAC will be taking part in the London Legal Support Trust (LLST) annual fundraising event on the 17 June, the London Legal Walk. In 2018 13,000 people took part in the 10km walk around London, beginning in the legal district, raising a record breaking £830,000 for charitable legal advice services.

copy_of_lead_walkers_220x220.jpg

Leading figures in the legal sector lead the walk, including Lord Burnett (Lord Chief Justice), Lady Hale (President of the Supreme Court), Sir Terrence Etherton (Master of the Rolls), Geoffrey Cox QC MP (Attorney General), Lucy Frazer QC MP (Solicitor General) and many other current and former judges. They are followed by many involved in the delivery of legal services, including many from the leading law firms and chambers across the country, as well as organisations that benefit from LLST’s generosity - including TeamCHAC.

CHAC manager Paul Wilkinson will be joined by trustees Viv Gambling, Nick Jackson, Tessa O’Sullivan and Nick Piska for the walk.

The London Legal Support Trust provides hope for advice centres such as Canterbury Housing Advice Centre at a time when legal aid has been cut and core funding for advice services is difficult to secure. Without the funding provided by LLST CHAC would be unable to provide help to many of the people who come to us for housing advice.

Nick Piska, Chair of CHAC

While law firms are raising money for the LLST, which is distributed to the various advice and pro bono centres LLST support, as CHAC is an organisation supported by LLST all donations to TeamCHAC will go to CHAC. Please support TeamCHAC here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CHAC.

The London Legal Support Trust is an independent charity that raises funds for free legal services in London and the South East. CHAC is proud to be a LLST Centre of Excellence and is grateful to the LLST for the generous contribution it makes to CHAC’s core funding, helping to maintain free and confidential housing advice in the Canterbury District.

Team CHAC at the KM Big Bike Ride - 28 April 2019

Team CHAC is back! We’re entering a team to take part in the KM Big Bike Ride.

The charity ride, organised by the KM Charity Team, will be held on Sunday 28 April 2019, starting from Betteshanger Country Park, Deal, Kent. Team CHAC is taking part in the 50km route, but if anyone would like to ride the 100km route on behalf of CHAC we’d be delighted!

“This is a thrilling way to raise money for this excellent cause. The ride will give superb views of our beautiful coastline and countryside as an added perk for participants.”
— Simon Dolby, KM Charity Team

If you’d like to ride for Team CHAC please book your place at http://www.kmcharityteam.co.uk/challenge/bikeride - under ‘supported charity’ please select ‘Canterbury Housing Advice Centre’. Once signed up please email Nick Jackson to be added to Team CHAC on whitstable.nick@outlook.com

If you can’t take part in the ride you can still support us by sponsoring the team here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/TeamCHAC2019. 70% of sponsorship money raised goes to CHAC and 30% will go to the children’s road safety initiatives carried out by the KM Charity Team. (The organisers' costs are paid wholly from entrance fee of £30 and not from sponsorship.)

bikeride_50k map route.jpg

Christmas Wine Tasting Fundraiser for CHAC, 6 December - TICKETS AVAILABLE

Festive wine tasting at the Whitstable Castle (aka Tankerton Towers) hosted by Henry Rymill, formerly of The Wine Room now of ‘Wine Underground’, starting promptly at 8pm on Thursday 6th December.

There will be 8 festive wines: starting with a sparkling wine, then 3 white wines then 4 reds. The theme will be suggestions for Christmas, either for the feast on the big day, as gifts or gluggable party and festive wines. There will be mince pies on arrival as well as nibbles halfway through with local cheeses form the Cheesemakers of Canterbury and Italian salamis, olives, sundried tomatoes etc.

The evening includes 8 wine tastings, nibbles, a raffle with some great prizes (tickets can be purchased on the night), and fun & games…

Total cost: £40 of which £20 goes to CHAC.

To book please email Peter Ash on fundraising@chac.co.uk