Wilsons in the Community: Give Us Time

Andrew Mackie tells us about a charity called 'Give Us Time', of which he has been a Trustee since December 2018.

What makes the charity different and why did you get involved?

Whilst there are lots of military charities that focus on supporting serving and former serving members of the armed forces or their dependants, this one is unique in that it supports the entire family at once. Give Us Time provide respite breaks which enable serving members to spend quality R&R time with their families, often on the recommendation of a welfare officer, and the feedback the charity receives from beneficiaries is amazing.

It was established by Dr Liam Fox, who is not a trustee but still closely involved. Penny Mourdant has just become an ambassador for the charity, joining Ant Middleton of ex-SAS fame.

"There is obviously a strong mental health and wellbeing element to what the charity does, which has always been an area of interest for me", says Andrew.

"Another fairly unusual thing about the charity is that we don't do a lot of fundraising – although of course we need to cover our costs. We are mainly looking for property donors -  people with holiday homes that are unused for part of the year, for example. We have a few regular donors who donate entire resorts for a week at a time, including a place in Malta that closes to the public so that the charity can provide multiple breaks at once!"

How can people support the charity?

"Demand for breaks currently outstrips property availability so if anyone knows of someone who might be able to donate a property even as a one-off, that would be great."

Further information on the charity can be found here: https://giveustime.org.uk/