The NEN – North Edinburgh News

 STV Children’s Appeal – Changing Lives, Friday 17 March at 8pm on STV

In 2016, the STV Children’s Appeal raised an incredible £2,568,369 for Scotland’s children, thanks to the fundraising efforts of individuals, communities, businesses and celebrities across the country.

 In a special programme presented by Andrea Brymer, STV presenters Sean Batty, David Farrell, Chris Harvey and Lucy Whyte visit some of the many projects that benefit from Appeal funding, including Granton Community Gardeners in Edinburgh, to find out how the money is having a real impact in communities across Scotland.

Viewers will also get a chance to catch up with some of the young people and families who featured in STV’s Appeal programming in 2016. STV Children’s Appeal – Changing Lives will air on Friday 17th March at 8pm.

The half hour programme shines a light on the fantastic work taking place across Scotland to help children and young people affected by poverty, focusing on four projects; Granton Community Gardeners in Edinburgh, Home-Start in Aberdeen, Bridging the Gap in Glasgow and One Parent Families Scotland in Falkirk.

Granton Community Gardeners was set up by a group of neighbours to cultivate a piece of wasteland in one of the poorest areas of the city. The £1,000 grant from the STV Children’s Appeal is now helping the project offer children’s gardening clubs as well as regular community meals to help combat isolation and provide healthy food at very little cost for local families living in poverty. STV News presenter Lucy Whyte joins local school children at the project as they learn how to grow and eat fresh and healthy food. 

STV News presenter Chris Harvey visits charity Home-Start in Aberdeen, which is one of several local Home-Start charities in Scotland to benefit from over £81,000 from the STV Children’s Appeal, to find out how the funding is making a difference. The grant will help deliver Big Hopes Big Future, a project that works with children before they start school to ensure they have the necessary skills and behaviors in place to participate fully and benefit from their early years in education. 

Live at Five’s David Farrell visits Bridging the Gap, an inspirational community project based in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, to discover how the community is joining together to help families in the local area. The project has received £2,000 from the STV Children’s Appeal to support its community services, which range from parenting support to weekly community meals to help reduce isolation among new residents, whether they are from other parts of Glasgow or other parts of the world. 

STV’s weatherman and long term supporter of STV Children’s Appeal, Sean Batty pays a visit to Falkirk charity One Parent Families Scotland to learn more about the work of the Braes Family Centre, which has received £46,471 from the Appeal.

Based in the Upper Braes area of Falkirk, the family centre offers child care and outreach work in schools, including anger management training for teenagers who have been or are at risk of being excluded from school. The project is now hoping to launch a community hub offering a food scheme, a community garden, regular meals and a platform for local people to build relationships and break down barriers in the community. 

Presenter Andrea Brymer said: “We are so incredibly lucky to have the support of the Scottish people who continually raise amazing amounts of money for the STV Children’s Appeal. Handing out the cheques and seeing the real difference the money can make is what makes every part of it worthwhile. We supported so many fantastic projects across Scotland in 2016 and we’re looking forward to sharing some of their stories in this programme.” 

Elizabeth Partyka of the STV Children’s Appeal said: “We are extremely grateful to everyone that fundraised and donated to the STV Children’s Appeal in 2016. In this programme we highlight four of the many incredible projects that we’ve been able to support to show that every donation, big or small, helps make a difference in the lives of children and young people affected by poverty in Scotland.

“We are now in the midst of planning another fantastic line-up of fundraising events and programming for 2017 and with the continued support of communities across Scotland we hope to make this our best year yet.”

Since launching in 2011, the STV Children’s Appeal has raised over £13.7 million, with 722 big and small grants distributed to projects across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland, providing much needed support to over 62,000 children. The money raised is distributed to provide practical help like food and warm clothes; create opportunities for training and employability; and enable social and emotional support for those who need it most.

If you’re an individual or group that would like to help raise funds for children and young people living in poverty in Scotland with the STV Children’s Appeal, please get in touch with Natalie Wright at natalie.wright@stv.tv.