charity donation – Page 3 – The NEN

A wheelie grand gesture!

A Glasgow charity has received a donation from a UK regional housebuilder to help support children to engage in cycling activities. Free Wheel North received a £1,000 donation from Persimmon Homes West Scotland, as part of the housebuilder’s Building Futures campaign.

The charity encourages children of all abilities to participate in cycling at an affordable cost, improving mental and physical wellbeing as well as learning key life skills.

Not only does Free Wheel North cater for disabled children with specialist bikes, but their facility also allows families who financially cannot commit to owning their own bike or do not have the space to store one, the opportunity to still participate in regular cycling.

Carol Thompson, who applied for the funding for Free Wheel North, said: “Cycling is a key life skill as it means independence for the children as well as it being a skill that they will carry with them for their entire life.

“Donations such as this are so important with COVID-19 restrictions directly affecting our visitor numbers. In 2019 our disability cycle track welcomed more than 41,000 but this year that number has dropped to just 7,224 causing a dramatic drop in our funding.

“With the kind donation from Persimmon Homes, we hope that this year we will be able to create even more opportunities for children to enjoy again. The funding will help us to maintain and service our fleet of speciality bikes, making them ready for when more children can return to the track.”

Persimmon Homes is giving away £1million through their Building Futures programme. The campaign aims to support community groups working with under-18s across three categories – education & arts, health, and sport.

A total of 128 grants of £1,000 will be awarded across Persimmon’s 32 regional businesses to improve local facilities and the delivery of vital community projects.

Three initiatives will go on to win £100,000 each through a national online public vote. The winners will be named at a gala dinner for finalists in October.

In each sector – education & arts, health, and sport – as well as the £100,000 first prize, there will be a £50,000 second prize and a £20,000 third prize, while a further 87 shortlisted projects will each receive £5,000.

Chris Logan, managing director of Persimmon Homes West Scotland, said: “Our Building Futures initiative allows us to support community groups that focus directly on young people across the areas that we are building.

“We are delighted to be able to donate £1,000 to Free Wheel North. The inclusive activities they provide for young people within the community is a much-needed service and allows opportunities for those who may not be able to experience them safely elsewhere.

“The Building Futures campaign is still open for applications and we are encouraging charities and services who work specifically with under 18’s to apply now via our website.”

For more information about the new developments available across West Scotland or to find out more about the Building Futures initiative, visit:

www.persimmonhomes.com

Barratt East Scotland raises £5,000 for LifeCare Edinburgh

Barratt Developments East Scotland, which includes both Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, has donated £5,000 to local elderly care charity, LifeCare.

Following its success in Barratt Developments’ company-wide virtual 500k challenge for the Prince’s Trust, the Barratt East Scotland team, which walked a combined total of 1,721km, was awarded £5,000 to donate to a charity of its choice.

It selected LifeCare, a renowned local charity which offers registered care, outreach activities and help at home services for older people living across the North of the city.

Established in 1941, the organisation supports hundreds of elderly clients a year, including those suffering with dementia, mobility issues, those experiencing isolation and loneliness, food poverty and mental health problems, and offers dedicated support for carers.

The charity also runs the successful community café, CafeLife on Cheyne Street.

The donation from Barratt East Scotland will help LifeCare’s ongoing efforts to support those who have shielded during the duration of the pandemic to return to life beyond their own four walls and back to the communities they hold dear.

Alison Condie, managing director at Barratt East Scotland, said: “LifeCare carry out incredible work supporting those vulnerable and in need of care.

“We’re pleased that our employees nominated the charity and we hope that our donation will help them to continue to provide these crucial and important services.”

Claire Montgomery, LifeCare’s Trusts Fundraising and Communications Manager added: “A huge thanks to everyone at Barratt East Scotland for this terrific award – it’s truly appreciated. As a registered charity, LifeCare is reliant on the generosity of our funders to enable us to deliver quality care that our older population deserve.

“We have supported over 770 local older people through the pandemic, many of whom had no other available support. We have offered safely delivered care in the home, remote support by phone and doorstep visit, shopping and prescription deliveries, and we have set up our brand new meals on wheels service which has already served up over 9,000 hot meals to doorsteps.

“Our continued care has supported isolation issues and enabled people to remain living independently in their own homes. We look forward to fully opening all services again as soon as we are safely able.”

As part of its community benefits programme, the five-star housebuilder works with a wide range of local causes, and has continued to step up its efforts through the Barratt and David Wilson Community Fund.

Now in its third year, the Community Fund pledges to donate £1,000 each month to a charity or organisation in the east of Scotland. Charities are nominated by and voted for by employees of Barratt Homes and the focus for the fund continues to be on organisations that improve the quality of life for those living in the area.

The team is also committed to providing assistance to groups that contribute to the communities it serves in many other ways. A recent benefactor was Rosslyn Bowling Club, which Barratt East Scotland supported with the donation of a new notice board.

Jim Hiddleston, Club President of Rosslyn Bowling Club said: “We’ve been working towards a new noticeboard for quite some time as our location is quite hidden, so we are delighted with our new signage kindly donated by our new neighbours, David Wilson Homes.”

Interested charities can enquire about donation opportunities at charity.eastscotland@barratthomes.co.uk

Visit the Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes websites for more information.

Children’s charity gets cash boost from local housebuilder

A children’s charity aimed at helping disabled and disadvantaged children has been given a £1,000 cash boost by a Bathgate-based housebuilder as part of its year-long initiative to support local communities.

Radio Forth Cash for Kids, which supports children that have special needs, are disabled, have life limiting illnesses or have been abused or neglected, received £1,000 from Persimmon Homes East Scotland.

Cash for Kids is a grant giving charity that receives requests from individuals and children’s organisations within the broadcast area of Radio Forth. All money raised is distributed in Edinburgh the Lothians, Fife and east central Scotland.

Nationally Cash for Kids raised £19.2 million last year enabling support for 396,639 children.

The funding provides elements of specialist care and a variety of day-to-day necessities such as food, toiletries and data cards to help keep children connected for schooling.

Victoria Hendry at Radio Forth, said: “We are delighted that Persimmon Homes East Scotland has chosen to support us as we rely entirely on donations.

“The pandemic has devasted families across Scotland and we currently have 45 applications outstanding to help children with specialised wheelchairs, bereavement support, speech therapy so we are approaching businesses for help across our broadcast area.

“This donation will help us to continue to offer support and develop new services for young people. We are so grateful.”

The donation comes as part of Persimmon Homes’ Community Champions project which donates up to £1,000 to two local groups and charities in each of its 30 regions.

Neil Parry, managing director at Persimmon Homes East Scotland, said the community initiative is a way of supporting people across every city, town and village where the company works.

He said: “We want our Community Champions project to help as many people as possible and we felt the work that Radio Forth Cash for Kids is perfectly placed to achieve this, particularly under the current circumstances.

“We are building on a number of new sites in and around Edinburgh and are very pleased to support this extremely worthy cause that does so much to help children in the community.”

Persimmon Homes East Scotland is currently developing a range of new two, three and four-bedroom homes at The Willows at The Wisp, Kings Cove and Lang Loan in Edinburgh along with Burgh Gate in Musselburgh.

For more information visit www.persimmonhomes.com

Amazon supports Edinburgh children’s charities

Two Edinburgh children’s charities have received £4,000 in donations from Amazon’s Development Centre in the city.

Amazon Development Centre Scotland donated £2,000 to Canongate Youth and £2,000 to The Yard.

The donations were made as part of the ‘Amazon in the Community’ programme, whereby the company supports the communities around its operating locations across the UK.

Canongate Youth supports children across Edinburgh and the Lothians, offering youth clubs, support services, advice and counselling. Amazon Development Centre Scotland has supported the charity since 2014.

The Yard is an organisation that creates safe play areas for disabled children and their siblings, giving them the chance to experience creative, adventurous indoor and outdoor play in a well-supported environment.

The charity plans to use the money to support more disabled children and families with online videos for early years, play ideas and relaxation, and work towards bringing more people back into the playground in line with current guidance.

Graeme Smith, Managing Director at Amazon Development Centre Scotland, said: “We are pleased to offer these donations to such brilliant charities. We hope the support will help both charities continue their important work with the children of our community.”

*Amazon’s Tich Kent with Anna Robinson (left) partnership manager and Danielle Campbell play team leader.* *NOTE picture was pre-COVID*

Jenny MacDonald, Director of Development at The Yard, added: “We are very grateful for this donation from the Amazon team and for their support of our mission to ensure every child has the right to safe and fun play. We would like to say a big thank you to Amazon for its kind support.”

Amazon’s Development Centre in Scotland is responsible for innovations used around the world by the company, including machine learning to power Amazon’s smart features like personalised recommendations and intelligent advertising.

Community donations is one of a number of ways in which Amazon is supporting communities across the UK during COVID-19.

Amazon is providing disadvantaged students with online STEM courses as well as teaming up with charity partner Magic Breakfast and delivering three quarters of a million healthy breakfasts to families around the UK.

For more information on how Amazon is supporting the UK during COVID-19, click here.

Amazon team supports Edinburgh Streetwork

Streetwork, a local charity that provides support for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, has received more than £500 from the team at the Amazon Development Centre Scotland in Edinburgh.

For 25 years, the charity has helped to make positive things happen for people in Edinburgh facing extremely difficult circumstances. Streetwork provides expert, compassionate and flexible support and works to link people into the services they need. The charity’s mission is enabling a life off the streets, showing dignity and respect to everyone.

In 2019, Streetwork became part of Simon Community Scotland – delivering a range of services across Glasgow, Edinburgh and across Central Scotland. The charity’s approach is to maintain contact with people in diverse circumstances, so that the charity can help people address the underlying reasons for homelessness and get them the support they need.

Before the lockdown, the team hosted an International Food Day event to raise money for the local charity, where 18 chef volunteers cooked up 24 different dishes, representing 8 different cuisines.

David Freeman, General Manager at Amazon Development Centre Scotland said: “What a wonderful way to celebrate, while also giving back to our community.

“I’m delighted the team can help support Streetwork who do fantastic work for the local community.”

Rankin Barr, Service Leader, Streetwork added: “We are very grateful for this donation from the Amazon team and for their support of our mission to help ensure everyone has a safe place to live.

“Donations like this that help us make a lasting impact for those struggling in our community. We would like to say a huge thank you for supporting Streetwork.”

Amazon Development Centre Scotland is responsible for innovations used around the world by the company, including machine learning to power Amazon’s smart features like personalised recommendations and intelligent advertising.

The charity welcomed the donation as part of the “Amazon in the Community” programme, which supports communities in and around where it operates in the UK.

Local children’s cancer charities go gold with Amazon

The Amazon Customer Service Centre in Edinburgh raised awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness in September with a special event to highlight the innovative work being done by hospitals and charities to support children and families across Scotland. Continue reading Local children’s cancer charities go gold with Amazon

Amazon support for Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre

Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, a vital source of support and advocacy for those who have experienced sexual violence, has received a £750 donation from Amazon Development Centre Scotland in Edinburgh.

The Centre, which was set up in 1978, provides a range of services to support women, all members of the trans community, non-binary people, and young people (aged 12 – 18) who have experienced any kind of sexual violence in their lives. Continue reading Amazon support for Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre