Gorgeous boutique candles are a wonderful pick-me-up for Portsmouth charity for deaf children

The Elizabeth Foundation helps deaf children learn to listen and talk. The charity provides a range of services and support to young deaf children and babies – and of course their families. Set up 41 years ago by the parent of a deaf child, the organisation supports more than 80 children and their families at a centre in Portsmouth, as well as now coordinating a national programme across the whole country. The Elizabeth Foundation was recently thrilled to receive eight beautiful, hand-poured aromatherapy candles from London-based luxury lifestyle brand Mayowa Samuel.

A wonderful pick-me-up

The Elizabeth Foundation was lucky enough to receive the candles to gift to the parents it works with: the donation had generated a record-breaking level of interest when it was posted on the A Good Thing platform. The candles created by Mayowa Samuel are natural and vegan-friendly, and are produced using strictly sustainable methods.

Becky Lock, The Elizabeth Foundation’s Fundraising Coordinator, told me:

“These candles will be a wonderful pick-me-up for the parents in our baby group who are dealing with the distress and trauma of having had their newborn baby diagnosed as deaf.”

Working with families from day one

The Elizabeth Foundation does amazing work with families – often from the very day of diagnosis – right up until children go to school. The charity runs baby classes and toddler classes, and is focused on helping children to make use of technology to listen, so that they can eventually join mainstream schools.

Becky Lock had firsthand experience of The Elizabeth Foundation long before she worked for the charity:

“My deaf son and I were supported by The Elizabeth Foundation from when he was tiny. I can’t sing its praises highly enough! My son is now six, and thriving in mainstream school.”

The charity provides support for parents as well. There can be a powerful fear of the unknown around deafness, and a diagnosis can be very frightening for families – many of whom will have no previous experience of deafness at all. Becky explains to me that nine out of 10 parents of deaf babies are hearing.

Becky remembers the relief she felt at having made contact with The Elizabeth Foundation when her baby was diagnosed as deaf:

“There was no jargon, it was all much more human. I was able to talk to other parents and connect with them. You feel you can ask each other anything, you’re all in the same situation.”

There are currently 6,500 UK children with severe to profound hearing loss. There’s huge demand for The Elizabeth Foundation’s service: it currently has 1,000 subscribers to its UK-wide provision, and there’s a summer residential programme for families from abroad, who don’t have a support service in their part of the world.

Knowing you’re not alone

In addition to loving the candles, Becky was thrilled with her experience of using A Good Thing:

“It was really easy to use. The whole thing took about a week to ten days from beginning to end: I submitted my request, and was selected. I was then given the email address of Samuel at the business, we made contact, and he posted the candles to us.”

Becky explains how the candles will now be used by the charity:

“We’ll gift them to parents whose baby has been diagnosed as deaf. Finding out that your baby is deaf can be a huge shock. It’s a raw time, there is a real fear of the unknown. This will be a little something we can gift to give these parents, to give them a smile, a light in the darkness. It’s so good to feel you’re supported, and not alone.”

Tokens of kindness

Mayowa Samuel, who owns and operates the brand that donated the candles, told us:

“We had some candles leftover from a project, and were keen that they go to people who need a pick-me-up. Times haven’t been too kind, we’re all aware of it, and in our business we’ve seen the power of small gestures and tokens of kindness. We wanted to consider anyone who may need a smile on their face.”

A bit of a journey

Samuel was candid when he talked to A Good Thing about how he ended up producing such beautiful luxuries:

“I didn’t grow up wanting to make candles… they found me. In 2015, I had lost my father, finished uni, and wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do. In life we never have time to ask ‘who am I?’. My mum had gone back to school to do a Master’s, my brother was about to get married: everyone around me felt settled and had a focus. I felt alone most of the time, it was a bit of a blurry phase, and I suffered with depression.”

Samuel explains that it was during this period that he suddenly felt a strong desire to make candles one night, and began his research the following day:

“And since then I’ve gone on an entrepreneurial journey, but an artisan journey too. The business side and the artisan side merged together, there was lots to learn on both sides.”

Samuel’s candles are aromatherapy-based, and manufactured with no synthetics. The firm makes the blends in-house, and they are sold only to hand-picked stockists that are aligned with the firm’s aesthetics and ethos.

Tapping into the message

As soon as Samuel’s candles were posted on the A Good Thing platform, there was a flood of interest from charities right across the UK – more interest than we had ever seen before for a donation! We talked to Samuel about how he went about choosing which charity to donate to:

“The Elizabeth Foundation stood out immediately when I read through the requests – it mirrored a phase I was in myself, it struck a chord, I wanted to give them some love. I have a son, and if anything goes on you feel worried.”

Samuel feels a real link with the charity now that the donation has taken place:

“Even though I haven’t met the charity in person, we have a connection now. The Elizabeth Foundation really stuck out to me. I really tapped into their message.”

It made me feel good!

Samuel had not donated his candles before – but a few days beforehand, he had experienced a strong feeling that he wanted to give some away to charity. He is very positive about using A Good Thing:

“The process of listing was super simple, not overwhelming. It just makes you want to give away more. I now wish I had spread the candles out – I’ll give them to more charities next time. It made me feel good.”

A beautiful concept

Samuel told us that his firm has other things to donate in future, for example room sprays, and tells us his intention is to donate every month – so keep an eye on your email notifications! He is positive about having used A Good Thing:

“I’ll keep on using A Good Thing. It’s a beautiful concept. The branding isn’t over the top, and A Good Thing doesn’t feel corporate, it’s reaching charities that are not in the spotlight.”

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