Disability charity Gympanzees lands technology partner as it seeks funding for its first permanent facility

Gympanzees is a Bristol-based charity that delivers multiple fully inclusive leisure facilities, putting disabled children at the heart of its design. All facilities are easily accessible for disabled children, young people and their families, to meet their exercise, play and social needs.

The charity has a vision to build the first Gympanzees in Bristol. The leisure centre will cater to the 60,000 disabled children and young people within an hour of the city, providing everyone the chance to have a life filled with exercise, play and friendship.

“For parents who have children with disabilities, going into the community for exercise to gyms, parks and soft play areas can be extremely difficult, sometimes impossible and often overwhelming”

Excitingly, the charity is partnering with BOM IT Solutions a well-established, Bristol-based IT services provider. BOM IT Solutions provides Cloud Migration services, Email Security, all things Cyber Security and IaaS services from world leading vendors, with a focus on business systems integration and alignment. By keeping up with continual IT change and expanding upon a range of technologies, BOM has become the leading, preferred and often sole IT partner for many businesses in the South West and Wales.

The charity recently launched an appeal to raise £2.2 million to fund a new permanent centre which will replace the pop-up play centre Gympanzees currently relies on. The funding for this new leisure facility is desperately needed due to the severe lack of facilities currently accessible to disabled children in the area. In helping the charity to achieve its vision, BOM IT Solutions will support Gympanzees over the next three years, donating time and resources, including free ongoing IT support services and technical systems within the facility.

“Bristol has a severe shortage of facilities to cater to the needs of disabled children and young people”

Commenting on how the tech company will be offering it’s support, Andy Carter, Managing Director at BOM IT Solutions tells us, “We chose to support Gympanzees because we feel passionate about this cause and the work they do within the local area.

“Bristol has a severe shortage of facilities to cater to the needs of disabled children and young people. As a local business we want to support local charities, and make sure they have the IT infrastructure they need to be able to carry out their important work.”

For parents who have children with disabilities, going into the community for exercise to gyms, parks and soft play areas can be extremely difficult, sometimes impossible and often overwhelming. The charity’s appeal to fund a new leisure facility, supported by BOM IT Solutions, comes as a great ray of hope for those families in the Bristol area who are currently uncatered for.

Stephanie Wheen, CEO and Founder at Gympanzees says, “There are one million disabled children and young people in the UK, and sixty thousand disabled children residing in Bristol who can’t access regular leisure facilities. This has seen a decline in their health and well-being, with 72% suffering from mental health difficulties because of isolation. We are incredibly grateful for the support from BOM IT Solutions as our technology partner and we hope this will encourage more local businesses to help us as we strive to provide permanent facilities all year round that have the power to positively change a young person’s life.”