Winter 2013 Connect The newsletter for supporters of The Children s Society Inside this issue... Jessica and Joe s stories 2 3 Fancy a challenge in 2013? 5 Campaigns update 7 A better childhood. For every child. www.childrenssociety.org.uk
How you helped vulnerable children last year Thanks to your support, we ve been able to reach thousands of vulnerable children all over the country. We help and protect young people who have no one else to turn to when they are at their most vulnerable. That includes children like Jessica, who found support and guidance through our Missing from Home project in Manchester. She had a difficult relationship with her family so much so that she struggled to make friends at school and was at high risk of sexual exploitation. We gave Jessica intensive one-toone support and helped her work closely with her parents and school to make sure she was making good decisions about the choices affecting her future. With your help, 1,500 young people and their families have received mediation services from us this year. We couldn t have done it without you. Through your donations our projects are able to help young people speak out when they feel that no one is listening, which can be particularly true with children in care. Our Children s Rights Service in Lancashire and Blackpool works specifically with vulnerable children I had someone to help and listen to me and who I could trust. My worker has been great. I think I am ok now - I know where to go if I need more help. Jessica being looked after by social services. Important decisions about their future are often made without them, which can lead to children feeling isolated, frustrated and powerless. We make sure the choices and thoughts of the child are represented at important meetings and work closely with them to make sure their happiness is paramount in decision making at all times. Advocacy work is very varied, but a common theme lately has been the impact of spending cuts on the lives of young people in care. Project worker, Lancashire Children s Rights Service 2 Connect Jessica s story
You re helping children reach their potential This year, you ve helped us continue to help disabled children make the most of their skills and talents through the Reaching Out project in York. The project helps young people like Joe to raise their aspirations and feel more included in their community through volunteering and employment. Joe is working at a local bike shop. The experience has helped him become more confident and feel more independent. The Children s Society helped me with the paperwork, the interview and the placement. Now I am a volunteer - I enjoy having a laugh with everybody. They say I am one of the gang Joe He is just one of 100 disabled children and young people you have helped in York this year. Thanks to support like yours, we help hundreds of disabled children every year all over the country. We run holiday activity schemes to let children and carers have a break, and help young people get the decisions they want at important meetings about their future through our advocacy work. Joe s story Connect 3
You have been lighting up children s lives through Christingle Every year, hundreds of Christingle events are held in churches up and down the country. The candlelit services have become a firm favourite with supporters of all ages and they help us raise vital funds, so a huge thank you to anyone who attended or organised a service. Christingle in numbers: 1.2m was raised last year we re hopeful of raising even more this year 410,000 collection envelopes ordered we hope they were all filled with lovely donations 836,850 collection candles ordered lighting up churches and schools all over the country Nearly 1,000 services were registered on our website 17 cathedrals kindly held a service Carol singing challenge Hundreds of enthusiastic singers took to their local high streets, supermarkets and pubs last month to join our carol singing challenge. Thank you to all of you who took part to help raise funds to support us. If you took part, please send us your photos and stories from your event. A special mention has to go to Polly King in Guildford who managed to organise seven carol singing collections around her town centre in December! Polly was even lucky enough to have a local company match her donations and hopes to raise around 1,500 for us. Competition If you donate funds raised through carol singing by 30 January you will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three generously donated prizes: 1. Afternoon Tea for Two at The Goring Hotel in London 2. 150 to spend at any Bella Italia restaurant 3. A hamper of goodies from Emma Ball, such as notepads, cards and calendars. Find out more at www.childrenssociety.org.uk/carols 4 Connect Christmas
What do you want to achieve in 2013? Perhaps you want to get fit, try a new sport or run that marathon you have always thought about? Why not make 2013 the year to set yourself a sporting challenge? By raising money for us, you will not only realise a personal goal, but will also help us reach vulnerable children when they need us most. We have lots of sporting challenges for you to take part in including: Treks in the beautiful Peak District and Brecon Beacons Family sporting challenges such as 5k fun runs in Shropshire, London and the West Midlands, and even a Scootathlon in Eton Dorney! Hardcore challenges such as Tough Mudder (described as Probably the toughest event on the planet ) Cycling challenges across the country including Manchester, Yorkshire and Dorset Runs from 10ks to the London and Manchester Marathons! All our challenge participants will be given loads of support, including a personalised challenge pack, training plans and a fundraising handbook. You can find out more about taking part in an event for us at www.childrenssociety.org.uk/ challenges Your place reserved in London s biggest 10k Bupa London 10,000 27 May 2013 Join our running team and thousands of other runners for the 2013 Bupa London 10,000. This iconic 10k race takes you past many of the city s most famous sights, starting and finishing in St. James s Park. To get a guaranteed place, sign-up on our website, call 020 7841 4558 or email major-events@childrenssociety.org.uk Challenge yourself Connect 5
You could be one of our amazing 11,000 regular volunteers Thank you to all of you who volunteer with us. Volunteers are vital to our work. This year, we ve had over 11,000 regular volunteers and thousands more who supported us by organising events such as Christingle and Bake and Brew. Our volunteers give us their time, energy and skills in a wide range of ways to help ensure that children and young people are protected from harm: Over 500 volunteers directly support children, young people and their families as mentors, independent visitors and playworkers More than 6,000 people manage networks of supporters who have charity boxes in their homes, workplaces and communities Over 200 Volunteer Speakers promote our work at events in churches and schools, inspiring others to raise funds for us We have over 300 members of fundraising committees nationwide that raise money for us in their local area More than 2,000 volunteers help in over 80 of our shops all over the country Thousands of volunteers support our running events, whether taking part, cheering, marshalling or looking after participants Each volunteer decides to give up their time for different reasons. We want every one of our volunteers to get the most out of their experience with us because we never forget that each and every one is absolutely vital to our work. We just couldn t do it without them. If you d like to know more about volunteering for us, please visit www.childrenssociety.org.uk/volunteer 6 Connect Volunteering
Campaigning for change Fair and Square We ve been very busy this year campaigning for crucial change for the country s most vulnerable children. In April 2012, we launched our Fair and Square campaign, asking for the government to provide free school meals for all children in poverty. Currently, 1.2 million children who need free school meals do not get them shockingly, this is half of the children in poverty in England. Free school meals are crucial for families living in poverty. These meals help to ensure that children from the lowest income families receive warm, nutritious food in the middle of the day. This could be the only meal they eat all day. Since we launched our petition, over 35,000 of our supporters have signed it, which is amazing. We re presenting the petition to the government at the end of January, so watch this space for updates! You can find out more at www.childrenssociety.org.uk/ fairandsquare Make Runaways Safe Our Make Runaways Safe campaign has continued throughout the year, calling on local councils to put a safety net in place for all young runaways. Thousands of you have signed petitions, written to MPs and attended events to support this and we are hugely grateful. 19 councils have pledged their support already, and we re talking to many more, but we need your help! Check the map on www.makerunawayssafe.org.uk to see how your local council is involved. We ve been working with runaways for over 20 years. We ve consulted young people themselves about what needs to change when a child runs away from home or care. And you can help to join the thousands already supporting Make Runaways Safe, email us at supportercare@ childrenssociety.org.uk or call 0300 303 7000 Campaigning Connect 7
You could make the future brighter for children with a gift in your Will Did you know that gifts in Wills make up a third of all donations from individuals? Without these gifts, much of the vital work carried out by our projects would not be possible. This year, we ve received gifts of all sizes; every penny helps to make the future brighter for vulnerable children across the country. We recently received over 100,000 a share of a one million pound estate from the Will of a Vale of Evesham market gardener. The money was left to us by Mr Smith, of Bretforton, who died in September 2011. Mr Smith was a long-term supporter of The Children s Society and used one of our collection boxes at home we are incredibly grateful for this and his very special gift to us. Without the generous support of people like you and Mr Smith much of our work transforming the lives of thousands of children each year would not be possible. If you d like to consider supporting us in this special way and would like more information on how to do so, please contact Supporter Care on 0300 303 7000 or email supportercare@childrenssociety.org.uk Supporter Care, The Children s Society, Edward Rudolf House, 69 85 Margery Street, London WC1X 0JL Email: supportercare@childrenssociety.org.uk Call: 0300 303 7000 Charity Registration No. 221124 Photographs modelled for The Children s Society. All names have been changed to protect identites. Agenda Larry Bray Shutterstock A better childhood. For every child.