Believe it or not, this campaign is not really about how many basketballs I can throw in a hoop in 26 minutes, how many near misses I can frustratingly curse at or how many complete no-hopers have found themselves on the neighbours side of the fence.
No, it’s part of charity wide campaign to draw attention to how children and young people in the East Midlands have been feeling the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic over the last year.
And actually, it’s not really even about that: it’s about recognising that the real crisis that young people face both here and across the UK, and indeed the world, is one of child poverty. For the 5th richest nation in the world, our country’s child poverty statistics are disgraceful.
This is why we at The Mighty Creatives have established direct relationships with the End Child Poverty Campaign and regional organisations who have highlighted the roles of food banks in communities and how arts resource packs can make a material difference to families’ financial welfare and quality of life.
“It takes the pressure off and – all these lovely things that people have got, but not had to go into debt for. For lots of people these things are normal, but not for everyone. They were extra things that we could provide for them, for the whole family, although it is for the kids it helps the whole family.”
Many of our partners in the areas hardest hit by poverty have highlighted how important receiving an arts pack which stimulated young people’s creativity was to their mental health:
“Mental health problems are so entrenched in our area – and we all know the effects a creative experience can have to remove the mind from the rabbit warren. We would do it again in a heartbeat. We felt very proud to be part of it, and part of the chain that got those packs out.”
We now want to extend our relationships with organisations working to address poverty.
Our vision is to show people directly how just an apparently modest donation of arts resources can have life changing effects and this is where your help comes in.
Just £2.60 can help a young person find the pleasure of finding a creative moment in the time of a heartbeat.
A £26.00 donation can help that heartbeat moment shape a life time’s memory of the pleasures of creativity.
The cost is one thing: but the value of your donation is immeasurable. That’s one thing I’m not forgetting in counting those misses, near misses and baskets.
And for those of us who love the numbers, here’s today’s results:
| Day | Attempts | Near Misses | Baskets | Effort (Baskets/ Attempt) | Baskets/ Minute (BPM) | FeelGood Factor |
| 1 | N/A | N/A | 8 | N/A | 0.308 | N/A |
| 2 | 194 | N/A | 15 | 7.73% | 0.577 | N/A |
| 3 | 189 | 87 | 2 | 1.06% | 0.077 | 46.03% |
| 4 | 190 | 107 | 7 | 3.68% | 0.269 | 56.32% |
| 5 | 192 | 105 | 11 | 5.73% | 0.423 | 54.69% |
| 6 | 167 | 108 | 6 | 3.59% | 0.231 | 64.67% |
| 7 | 174 | 114 | 14 | 8.05% | 0.538 | 65.52% |
| 8 | Training Day | |||||
| 9 | 180 | 108 | 16 | 8.89% | 0.615 | 60.00% |
| 10 | 166 | 118 | 18 | 10.84% | 0.692 | 71.08% |
Dr Nick Owen MBE PLUS 