IT’S OK NOT
TO BE OK
The Jamie McVeigh Foundation was established by the family and friends of Jamie McVeigh who died at just 19 years of age. Jamie was a quiet young man, he had lots of friends, a loving family, he loved playing football and seemed happy. The tragic circumstances, in which he passed, will never be fully understood and although no mental health concerns are known, the family and friends felt they had a social responsibility to raise awareness and share the message that it is ‘ok not to be ok’. If Jamie did have worries he certainly never shared them with anyone and so the foundation aims to encourage other young people, particularly boys, to talk and share their concerns and get help if they need to.
Jamie was an outstanding sportsman, a modest young man and a fine role model to other young people. His name will be honoured through the work of the foundation with the aim of helping young people who find themselves in difficult financial circumstances. Jamie loved sport and the foundation has identified football as a fantastic opportunity to have fun, build confidence and friendships and feel part of a team. These things together give everyone involved a better quality of life, opportunities to share, discuss and offer a release from the stresses of daily life.
JAMIE’S BIRTHDAY
Making the best of losing a brother and doing something amazing in his memory
Jamie would have been 24 years old on 16th November 2018. We never imagined that we’d ever be writing something like this, but here we are. It’s now been 5 birthdays without Jamie with us, so this year we wanted to let you know how your support is making a massive difference to us and to the young people we are able to help through the foundation because of you.
We have always treated birthdays as a big celebration in our family and Jamie’s is still no different. We will be together, like we always are, laughing, taking jokes too far, calling our mum by her first name whilst she helps herself to the meal you ordered because she wishes she ordered that and being told to calm down at regular intervals by our dad whilst he continues to top up our drinks wondering how we all got so tipsy so quickly. We will be at the same restaurant we always go to, to celebrate Jamies birthday. As this is the last place we all went as a family of 6, and it really does feel like he is sitting there with us.
Now to the foundation, The Jamie McVeigh Foundation has raised over £33,000 so far. The kindness shown by everyone would make Jamie so proud and incredibly overwhelmed, and for us, knowing that his name is helping young people does help us cope with the sadness we feel every day. It’s a weird contrast to get our heads around – on the one hand a real sense of joy and achievement and on the other a deep sense of loss and unbearable tragedy. Jamie always cared much more for others than he did for himself, he would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it and wouldn’t expect a thank you. He never complained, and being the youngest of 3 hormonal older sisters he had a lot to complain about. It is impossible to put into words how much we miss him and his shy smile, his quick wit, and his dry sense of humour! We will never get over losing him, but we have learned to make the best of it.
Talking about losing Jamie remains as hard today as it’s always been. One of the key messages of the foundation is that ‘its ok not to be ok’ and while that’s easy to write it’s much harder in reality. It’s difficult feeling ok when you’ve lost a brother, or any family member for that matter but that slogan is a helpful reminder for us and we hope for others too. Jamie rarely talked about how he was feeling, he never opened up or seemed to carry any worries, and to this day we will never know what really happened on the morning of 19th March 2014, which was actually one of our Birthdays. But what we do know about Jamie is that he loved sport, in particular football, and he was good at it. Football really brought him into his own, when he stepped out on the pitch you could see he was in his element, passion took over and nothing else mattered in that moment but the game. We want this passion to live on within the foundation and that is why we chose to fund young people in sport and varies other social activities.
The loss of Jamie has taught us to be kind, to not take ourselves too seriously and not sweat the small stuff. We are privileged to of had him in our lives even though it wasn’t long enough and we hope his story and this foundation will help you.
Written with love by Jamie’s sisters, Derri, Christie and Ellie x
The Jamie McVeigh Foundation has raised £33,354 to date and donated £17,728 in sponsorships, by supporting 85 young people aged 6 – 19 from sports clubs and schools in and around Hatfield.
We currently have £7,143 remaining to help those in need.
THE JAMIE McVEIGH FOUNDATION AIMS & OBJECTIVES
To raise awareness that it’s socially acceptable ‘not to be ok’.
To provide financial support
To provide financial support for young people in Hatfield and the surrounding area to help them to access sport and physical activity.
To use sport
To use sport as a way to connect boys and girls to encourage an openness to talk about everyday stresses and concerns.
Encourage openness
To de-stigmatise that seeking help is a sign of weakness and to encourage openness as a strength.
FUNDING FRAMEWORK & APPLICATION FORM
The Jamie McVeigh Foundation is a small Hatfield based charity that aims to support local young people overcome financial barriers to joining football teams.
Funding is raised through charitable events, supported and run by local people.
Our aim is to be transparent about the process for accessing the funding. The process is detailed in the Jamie McVeigh Funding Framework. Find out more here.
The Foundation works with appropriate adults to support young people in joining a football club.