Having sustained a brain injury at birth, Andrew Baker, MBE BCAv, embarked upon his first fundraising mission when he was just 14 years old at St Birinus School in Didcot to give a thank you back for his treatment originally inspired by the brain surgery, he endured aged 12.
A twice head injury survivor and currently a service user of Oxford Head Injury Services, he established the local charity Play2Give in 2007 which continued the fundraising for Oxford Children’s Hospital; he and his team focus on poorly children, disability and health causes at the heart of everything they do. Play2Give has been changing, transforming, and saving lives for two decades. Back in 2015, Andrew established ‘Sleigh2Give’ as the Christmas arm of the organisation. Intended as a one-off Christmas toy collection with the Didcot superstore Sainsbury’s, his intention was to collect a couple of sacksful of toys to brighten up the lives of poorly children spending Christmas in the Oxford hospital, but the project was so successful in its first year with three sacksful of toys that every year since the initiative has just grown and grown.
Thanks to the support and help of the local community, his old schools and Didcot Events, Play2Give has raised close to £600,000 through a range of events, tombolas, raffles, donations, and gifts provided at Christmas as part of their ‘Sleigh2Give’ arm, and Easter eggs. Over £120,000 has benefited the Oxford Children’s Hospital. In 2017, ‘The Play2Give Room’, at the Children’s Hospital was formally opened, for teenage patients having long term stays.
Play2Give has recently supported Sobell House Hospice’s Extra Mile Appeal with a donation of £5,323. Play2Give raises funds for the hospice in memory of late supporter, Angela Norris, who received palliative care at home from Sobell nurses and passed away in late 2020. Angela was mother to vice-chair of trustees, Matthew, and like a second mother to the charity’s founder, Andrew.
Over 40 good causes and thousands of individuals have benefited from Play2Give’s good work. To donate: tinyurl.com/mwpvnek6
This year Play2Give will be holding a number of events all of which are listed on the Didcot Events What’s On section.
Visit play2give.org.uk/events to book
