Help For Heroes
History
The charity Help for Heroes was co-founded by couple Bryn and Emma Parry, after having visited Selly Oak hospital to meet injured servicemen and women in 2007. Bryn himself had served with the Royal Green Jackets for several years and upon this hospital visit, felt inspired to aid the cause, and met with the Chief of General Staff for the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt.
Help for Heroes was immediately popular and gained traction through social media campaigns and celebrity support. The Parrys saw through the management of the charity until 2016, when the former CEO of The Poppy Factory, Melanie Waters, took over the role. The couple both received OBEs in the Queens Birthday Honours in 2015. Today, Help for Heroes have the support of many high-profile names, as well as ABF The Soldier’s Charity and the newspapers The Sun and The Sunday Times.
The charity works through individual recovery centres where their Defence Recovery Capability programme is based - offering medical, welfare and psychological support. Their one-on-one recovery support is delivered by specialists and includes mental health treatment, addiction treatment, welfare advice, clinical liaison, around-the-clock care for those with catastrophic injuries (including speech and language therapy, carer cost contributions and funding for specialist equipment). Not only that, Help for Heroes also works on combatting social isolation, sports recovery, individual funding grants for veterans, and is responsible for the training, selection and development of Team UK at the Invictus Games!
Key selling points:
- Mainstream popularity and support of major media outlets
- A myriad of support programmes for injured and retired forces personnel
- Support given is lifetime care and is not withdrawn at any point
- Has helped over 20,000 forces veterans.