Campaigning mum Theresa Cave says a £10,000 Lottery handout for a hard-hitting anti-knife crime campaign is the perfect tribute to the son she lost.
Theresa has campaigned relentlessly against violent crime since 2003 when her teenage son Chris was stabbed to death in a Redcar flat.
In particular, she has fought to get the hard-hitting Point Seven presentation into Teesside schools, and to roll it out across the North-east on the internet.
And now, thanks to £10,000 from the Lottery’s Awards For All scheme, she’s been given the funding to help make her dream a reality.
The grant, awarded to the Chris Cave Foundation set up in Chris’s name, will be used to buy video equipment and develop a promotional video and website, with links to outside agencies, to help young people deal with issues surrounding violent crime.
Targeting the 11-25 age range, it will give young people, at the click of a button, information and facts to deter them from gang, gun, knife and cyber crime.
It’s one of several Awards For All grants for Teesside, totalling more than £70,000, handed out in the latest round. And for Theresa, it’s the culmination of years of hard work.
She said: “It’s the first funding we’ve ever had in 11 years but it’s not really about the money - it’s the fact that at last, we’ve been recognised and believed in. I’ve fought all the way to get into schools and colleges and now the doors are opening.
“Schools were reluctant to have it in case they were tarred with the “knife crime” brush but gradually, opinions have been changing. For example, Redcar and Cleveland College had me in last year and have asked me again next month.”
And by developing a website, it means young people across the North-east will have somewhere to go for help, advice and support at the lick of a button - the ultimate tribute to the son Theresa lost in such violent circumstances.
She said: “It means Chris didn’t die in vain. It has taken 11 years but at least I can now look up to the skies and say, ‘son, at last’.”
The foundation is also raising money to buy a static caravan at Redcar where the families of violent crime victims can spend some time away. For details of Point Seven and the caravan campaign, visit the Chris Cave Foundation page on Facebook.
Other Teesside Awards For All grants:
Hemlington Hall Academy, Middlesbrough: £10,000 for outdoor artificial grass area; The Road Ahead CIC, Middlesbrough: £9,920 to pay for therapists to deliver a therapeutic art unit; Small World, Big Drums, Middlesbrough: £8,400 for music-based workshops for adults with disabilities, mental health problems or substance misuse issues; Brotton Village Hall: £2,160 to install roller shutters; Counselling in Schools North EAST CIC, Redcar and Cleveland: £10,000 to deliver specialised traning to student counsellors; Wellbeing For All, Saltburn: £10,000 to fund drop-in sessions for people recovering from drugs, alcohol or mental health-related problems; Nunthorpe Primary Academy, £9,995 to improve outdoor play facilities; Frederick Nattrass Primary Academy, Norton: £10,000 to take the school’s older children to London.
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