It’s #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth and we interviewed a cancer prevention charity that was created as a response to a Breast Cancer diagnosis. So, we asked founder of the Hello Beautiful Foundation, Jane Hutchison, to tell us about the ups and downs, charity sector advice, how you can get involved and so much more.
BRIEFLY COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOUR CHARITY AND YOUR MOTIVATIONS BEHIND SETTING IT UP?
The HELLO BEAUTIFUL FOUNDATION is a Bloomsbury based cancer and illness prevention charity that was set up in response to my own diagnosis with Breast Cancer.
The initial motivation behind setting up the charity was to provide support to the people and families going through a cancer diagnosis.
Over time this motivation evolved to support other chronic degenerative diseases and we began to speak more openly about the lifestyle changes that could be adopted to help prevent these illnesses.
As a patient in the chemotherapy ward, it was clear to me that these environments were not designed with a holistic approach to healing in mind.
I started HELLO BEAUTIFUL to create a new and more sustainable way of addressing cancer and encouraging a collaborative framework for helping people to take the necessary steps to create a healthier society.
As a designer I also wanted to create a warm and inviting healing environment. A place where people could feel uplifted and relaxed.
Our wellness space (separately known as HELLO LOVE) in Bloomsbury is a place full of colour, vibrancy and plants and stands in stark contrast to the cold and clinical feel of traditional hospital wards and waiting rooms.
WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES WHEN YOUR CHARITY WAS FIRST ESTABLISHED AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?
The challenges that we faced when we first set up are largely the same that we experience now.
We see most of our job as one of educational service to the community. Teaching people how to live sustainably and holistically. This takes place in the Mind, the Body and the Spirit.
Classical western medicine likes to dismiss the value of this rounded approach so we have seen a lot of pushback in our desire to break away from the status quo and offer patients insights into a wide variety of different healing practices.
Separately, we have noticed that many charities seem to be in competition with each other.
From my artistic background, that is all about collaboration, I was shocked at how a great deal of the charities had no interest in working together and supporting each other.
If we want to make the world a better place for future generations, then it is paramount that we work together. We are really grateful to have found Givey and other smaller charities who are also keen to co-create a sustainable society based on collaboration and the communal sharing of resources.
WHAT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL GIVEY FUNDRAISERS YOU HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH FOR YOUR CHARITY? WHO BENEFITTED FROM THE DONATIONS RAISED?
Our Beat Cancer Beat Corona campaign that was run through Givey generated £10,000 worth of donations for the charity.
These vital funds, enabled us to take plant based meals and juices to cancer patients at the local hospitals here in Bloomsbury during the darkest days of the Covid19 lockdown period.
In addition to this we were able to give Cancer patients FREE access to online sessions, holistic workshops, NonToxic Gift packs, 1-to-1 Counselling, Vitamin and Supplement Packs and Herbal Medicine Packs.
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO RAISE AWARENESS OF CHILDHOOD CANCER? WHAT RESOURCES DO YOU HAVE AVAILABLE TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT THIS TOPIC?
Tackling childhood cancer is extremely important. Sadly, more and more children are being diagnosed at increasingly earlier stages.
Through our work we have come to understand the wide variety of lifestyle inputs that can contribute to the onset of cancer and other degenerative diseases.
In many instances, the lifestyle choices of the parents directly impact the child, especially in the earlier years.
Dietary imbalances, stress and other environmental factors all contribute to weaken immune systems and internal breakdowns. This can cause these illnesses to manifest.
It only makes sense that we can extrapolate this insight to the 9 months of pregnancy and, as well, the years leading up to child birth.
The good (and the bad) habits that we have formed have a cumulative effect on our health and wellness. This is also true for the generations to follow.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH OTHERS IN THE SMALL CHARITY SECTOR?
We have seen countless small charities close in the aftermath of the Covid19 Pandemic. Collaboration, and the communal sharing of resources is the only robust way of staying alive in times like these.
It’s becoming more and more important to foster ideals of teamwork across the Small Charity Sector.
The main piece of advice that we can give at the moment is to have a critical think about how you can draw other charities and organizations into the work that you are doing to support the community collectively as a unified front.
WHAT ARE YOUR OWN FUTURE ASPIRATIONS FOR THE CHARITY?
We want to make HELLO BEAUTIFUL’S services more accessible to people outside of Central London.
We are aiming to set up more wellness centres around the UK and abroad. This will help us bring our holistic approach into the mainstream and closer to where people live.
Also, we will utilise different size spaces to vary the offering from place to place. We will introduce bigger spaces to create deeper connections to the community. And, micro (boutique sized) spaces will offer quick solutions to our growing nutrition programs and 1 to 1 therapies.
In essence we are creating a full spectrum of offerings that reach everywhere from Prevention to Palliative Care.
HOW CAN PEOPLE SUPPORT YOUR CHARITY?
Our charity (as do most independent / grassroots charities) survives off of various resources that are made available to us.
You can support our charity through:
- Physical Products that we can sell through our charity shop.
- Pro Bono work from Design Studios, PR Agencies, Law Firms and Fundraising Teams that are invaluable.
- Financial contributions that help subsidise our work are of course always necessary.
- Another great way to support the HELLO BEAUTIFUL FOUNDATION is to visit the HELLO LOVE shop (62-64 Southampton Row)
- 50% of all sales through the go to supporting local artists and brands. The other 50% of each sale is donated to our charity.
- Finally (and certainly not least) we encourage you to set up your own fundraiser through Givey. This can help support our various initiatives.
Follow this link to view the Hello Beautiful Foundation Givey fundraising page: https://www.givey.com/hellobeautiful
Don’t forget to follow them on social media!
If you found this article helpful to read, check out the following posts:
World Child Cancer Charity Interview – Givey | Blog
Prostate Cancer: A True Story – Givey | Blog
Join our dedicated community of thousands of small charities. Givey is an online fundraising platform with an ethos of transparency for donors and no platform fees for charities / causes. We have raised over £2m.
Written by Ella Dunthorne