Skip to main content

Gateshead charity FACT has been broken into and destroyed. Here's how you can help

On Thursday 13th June, Gateshead charity Fighting All Cancers Together (FACT) was broken into. Their community centre, the FACT Family Home had been a dream of Founder and Chief Executive Joanne Smith for years. The centre was open for only a couple of months; it was destroyed in hours. 

'The week before the break in, we were running full services,' says Joanne. 'It felt like the work was coming to an end; we still had some little tasks, but we felt like we were settled in. We'd spent the day before putting up the last few shelves; we were talking about a garden space next.'

'Then, that night, I got a phone call from our security company. They told me to go to the community centre and speak with the police.'

Joanne says that whilst she knew that any kind of break in would be bad, nothing could have prepared her for the level of destruction she found at the site, 'I felt nervous on the drive there, but I was hoping that they'd just stolen a couple of laptops. When I arrived I spoke with the police, and I could tell they were trying to prepare me for it. They kept saying that there was significant mess.' 

'Then they walked me through the building. I felt numb.'

The destruction of the FACT Family Home was extensive. Almost every room had been damaged; cabinets pulled over with their contents strewn about the floor, doors hanging off their hinges, walls smashed and windows broken. The furniture that FACT had built up over the years was in pieces. The information boards that the charity takes to schools and businesses had been smashed. Resources were trampled and trashed on the floor.

'It was like a tornado had gone through the building,' says Joanne. 'We started on the ground floor, and every floor we went up, the destruction got worse and worse. Seeing the space we'd built destroyed like that felt like an out of body experience. Its not like anything I've ever experienced before.'

Joanne had no time to process the impact of this; she had to jump straight into action. Volunteers and employees had to be called so that they wouldn't go into the building. After the police investigation, the place had to be cleaned. Joanne and her team painstakingly moved through each room, taking the damaged equipment and resources that they had worked so hard for and putting them into a skip. The organisation closed it's doors for the first time in 16 years.

'We've never had to cancel any services, even through the pandemic, but we had to close the building for a week,' says Joanne. 'It doesn't sound like a long time, but for people who are at the end of their lives, for family members who are about to lose someone, or have just lost someone, a week without support is huge.'

'Everyone who uses the building has already been through a trauma of some kind due to cancer. The centre was a safe space. To answer the door and have to turn someone away - it's devastating.'

The damage to the building was estimated to be about £60,000. The financial loss is extensive; FACT has lost models, wigs, mastectomy wear, resources and services that their users depend on. But the emotional cost is greater still.

'We've lost thank you cards from service users, photographs of the charity when it was in it's infancy, before we were on social media,' says Joanne. 'Some of these people aren't with us anymore. These things can't be replaced.'

FACT have set up a JustGiving page, and are asking the community for donations to help them reach the £60,000 target they need to get their organisation restored, 'We're a small charity. We've never had to do fundraise on this scale, or for something so traumatic. We've had some really incredibly responses. I hope that people keep talking about this, for our service users who depend on us.' 

Joanne hopes to publish a list of things that they've lost, to replace the things that can be replaced, 'Every little thing helps. If businesses can donate furniture, or fundraise for us; people that can donate a skill, or share the JustGiving page. Please reach out; we need all the help we can get.' 

If you have a donation, please get in touch with FACT by email (info@fact-cancersupport.co.uk) with the subject line 'Donation'. For all financial donations, please visit FACT's JustGiving page.

Donate to FACT's JustGiving page


The Transcendit Way

Transcendit understand that when you choose to work with us, whether we're taking care of your IT, app or web development, you're trusting us with part of your business. So whether we're looking after your computers, phone systems or servers we always do things 'the Transcendit way'.

The whole of our team adhere to the same values, beliefs and policies - the principles that were written when Transcendit first formed in 2000. Whether you come to us for cloud services or recovery backup you can be confident that you'll always receive the same excellent service.

The Transcendit way outlines how we do business; following the same straightforward principles with every client and customer, regardless of how big or small they may be.

That means we get to know you and your business. We offer you a friendly, professional and efficient service, and we'll always be honest with you.
We understand that not everybody speaks fluent IT, so we try to explain things in a way that is simple and clear. We always spend as much time as is necessary explaining things to you.
If you need to talk to us about something, no matter how insignificant, we are only ever a phone call away – and we’re never too busy to make you a cup of tea and have a sit down with you in person.
We understand how frustrating it can be when things are late. When we schedule an appointment with you, we are there when you’re expecting us. If something prevents us from getting there, we always call you in advance to let you know.
Sometimes things can go wrong, but we never lie to you or try to cover something up. If things go askew we tell you what’s happened and how we plan to prevent it affecting your business.
We want you to continuously benefit from working with us. We regularly discuss your business and make suggestions for improving systems and processes wherever we can – but we never try to push you into a purchase.
When we quote a fixed price, that's always the amount we charge – you won’t find any nasty surprises on a bill from us. If you are paying by time and materials, we inform you if our approximations could change.
We understand the importance of privacy for your business and your customers. We respect the confidentiality of your data, and we will never pass on your information to third parties.
We appreciate it when you take the time to give us feedback. A system called CustomerSure records our client's responses, so you can trust that our reviews are from real people.
Find out what they're saying here.
Paul is always more than helpful...we'd be lost without him! Angela Fenwick, Streetwise

Based on 12075 reviews our customers rate us 9.8/10. Reviews and ratings by Customersure. 09-October-2024

Transcendit are proud sponsors of CHUF, the Children's Heart Unit Fund.

Transcendit is a Living Wage employer
Transcendit is a Microsoft Gold certified partner
VMWARE partner
Vipre partner
IPCortex partner
WithSecure partner
DELL partner
Barracuda partner
Veeam partner
N-Able partner