Tell us about your story and the impact you have made on the Jersey community:
Brightly has supported local children, young people and their families for 99 years. Today we provide financial support to those under the auspices of Children’s Services. Brightly receives no financial support from the Government of Jersey and we depend on the generosity of the local community to support our mission. We do not support applications for goods or services that are included in grants or benefits from the Government of Jersey. Last financial year we awarded almost £180,000 to children and young people covered by our remit. We also, where appropriate, signpost applicants to other relevant charitable support.
What activities does your organisation undertake that uses electricity and what is your annual consumption?
The Bosdet Foundation are currently supporting 312 children and young people with residential camps at Brig-y-Don House with the aim of offering weekend camps to children on the early help pathway starting in September. In addition to our own programs the house has been used to support the education needs of several children who could not be accommodated in mainstream education or special provision on the island. The site is also used as an alternative base for school residentials and is particularly suited to the needs of Mont a Labbe school children as we have an ensuite wet room as well as an ensuite shower rooms in all the bedrooms. Currently we have every week after the May half term booked by schools for residential camps, this will mean about 162 children and young people utilising this facility.
Tell us the reason behind your application. Why you should be selected for the giveaway and how it aligns with your values and activities:
As responsible landlords Brightly wishes to help our tenants to reduce running costs and improve our greatest asset which is Brig-y-Don House. If we were selected it would help both Brightly and the Bosdet Foundation showcase our concerns for the environment as well as providing savings which would thereby extend the funding available for charitable purposes.
As both charities are concerned with the well being of children and young people it would also send a clear message re the importance of our environment to this generation.
Lastly, tell us about your environmental objectives and how the addition of solar panels will help achieve your sustainability targets:
The Bosdet Foundation is committed to reduce the environmental impact of all our activities. We work with all our activity providers to plan a program that reduces travel. We plan deliveries to reduce the number of journeys and where possible recycle any waste. We actively compost vegetable waste from our kitchen which is used to improve soil quality. We actively monitor heating usage and adjust the controls when there is no occupancy to save on oil cost. The current heating system is in need of upgrading as it is difficult to control the temperature on individual radiators. Brightly recently had a survey carried out to see if was feasible to convert to all electric radiators and to remove the wet system, during the site visit the engineer expressed doubt that the electricity infrastructure would be sufficient to meet the demand on a building this size.