Although the Royal Baby hasn't been born yet, for one Bristol charity it sure is making an impact.

For Empire Fighting Chance, an Easton charity who combats deprivation and mental health issues in young peoples lives through boxing, the social media storm #GlobalSussexBabyShower has had donations pouring in from Texas and New York.

Martin Bisp, CEO of Empire Fighting Chance says: "We are very grateful that people are donating to us from the States. The impact the money can have on the work we do is immense."

The donations have come just a few months after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the gym, where they were able to experience the life changing impact boxing has on young people.

Contact : Andrea Sexton
+447887997922
asexton.pr@gmail.com


EDITORS NOTES:
The Empire Fighting Chance story began 12 years ago, when Martin Bisp (CEO) and Jamie Sanigar (COO) saw two kids they vaguely knew dealing drugs in a local park. They took exception to this and went over to tackle the issue, telling them it wasn't appropriate and if they wanted something to do they could come in the gym. The next week they brought friends, the week after that their friends brought friends, and before they knew it (6 weeks later) they were dealing with 50 kids a week. They would then begin to work in schools, and realise the work they were doing had a big impact on the kids. In 2013, the charity was formed. This has evolved from being a small boxing project in to the UK’s largest non-contact boxing schools engagement programme. Empire are an early stage intervention programme who are helping kids that underperform in school, have poor physical health, poor mental health or challenging home lives, commit antisocial or criminal behaviour and are suffering from unemployment.

Empire target young men and women age 8-25 who are experiencing significantly difficult challenges in their lives.

They are doing this by working with schools in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and South Wales, as well as working out of boxing gyms in the heart of deprived communities.

Empire Fighting Chance offer services such as non-contact boxing, mentoring (combining mentoring and psychological education), education which complements the school curriculum, and therapy through physical exercise and career guidance through the HELLO FUTURE programme. This works in partnership with DoubleTree Hilton, Lloyds, Rolls Royce, Extract Coffee, Marine Reserves, Bristol Rovers,Tobacco Factory Theatres, Tastetech, Balfour Beatty and Freedog.


Empire works with over 3500 young people every year.

They also hold events and fundraisers which gets people involved with the charity.

After working with Empire :

88% of young people are more confident
78% of young people are happier
81% are more positive about their future
82% have increased aspirations