Blesma

About Blesma, The Limbless Veterans

Blesma, The Limbless Veterans are dedicated to assisting serving and ex-service men and women who have suffered life-changing limb loss or the loss of use of a limb, an eye or loss of sight. Since 1932, they have been the only national service charity that supports limbless veterans for life, offering financial and emotional support to them and their families.

Rehabilitation, advocacy, counselling and care are the foundations of what they do. Their welfare support allows members and their families to face the challenges ahead with renewed confidence and self-belief. They rely on the generous support of people like you to enable them to help their injured and limbless veterans for as long as they need them. Blesma is for life.

Key facts and figures 2021

• 2,725 Members of Blesma, The Limbless Veterans.
• 21,770 Visits, contact and communications by Support and Outreach Officers.
• 1,325 Grants.
• 4900 Members, family members and carers took part in face-to-face and virtual activities.
• 410 Prosthetic interventions.
• 118 New members.

From your very first game, you will be helping Blesma to raise vital funds, some examples of what your contribution helps pay for:

• £5 will go towards resolving a problem a member is experiencing with their prosthetics.
• £20 will contribute to a day trip with other members, such as visits to the theatre, boat trips and gardening activities.
• £550 would pay for a Blesma family to have a long weekend away with their partners and children
• £1500 will pay for an essential home adaption like a stair lift that will help an amputee to remain living independently in their own home.

Registered Charity Numbers: 1084189
www.blesma.org

How To Play The Lottery

Each entry to the draw costs £1. Our draws are run every week of the year, usually on a Friday. You can either set up a membership to provide your chosen cause with a regular and reliable income, every week of the year, or you can play as and when you want to, whatever suits you best!

Lottery fundraising is a really easy and fun way to provide good causes with an income that they can plan for the future with. You need to be 18 or over and living in Great Britain to take part.
Last year (April 2022-March 2023):

• Lottery Income that went towards charitable causes = £573,922.20 (38.9%)
• Lottery income that went on expenses = £741,499.80 (50.3%)
• Lottery income that went on prizes = £132,500.00 (10.8%)

What are my chances of winning?

Any prize = 1 in 204 tickets entered into the draw will win a prize.

These figures are estimated using current plays and figures and can vary slightly from each week. These are an approximate and can be updated at any time.

In total, there were an average 27,819 weekly plays across our charity partners, with 6,734 prizes being given away over the year.

Please call us if you would rather set your lottery membership up over the phone 0300 303 4500.

How Do I Win?

When you join, we will allocate you with a lottery play number. Our draws are randomly drawn each Friday (with exception when this is a Bank Holiday, when it will take place the working day prior). You don’t need to check the results every week, although you can if you want to. If you win, we will contact you to let you know. If we have your email, your prize winnings will automatically go into your make a smile lottery account; where you can then request a withdrawal, after which monies are then transferred into your bank account, or if you don’t have an email with us, a letter and cheque will be sent via post (please make sure that we have your up to date address).