Tag: charity

New charity aims to tackle legacy of grief from Covid-19

Apart of Me, the design-led company that supports young people and their families through the heartbreak of grief via a mobile App, has received a double-boost as it seeks to help those suffering loss from the pandemic.

Firstly, their application to become a charity was not just approved, but fast-tracked by the Charity Commission. The Commission acknowledged both the importance of the serviceto children and young people affected by grief and the time-sensitive nature of the work given the legacy of loss caused by Covid-19.

In a second piece of good news for the charity, it was announced today that they had been named winners in the London Mayoral Resilience Fund, a scheme set up by Mayor Sadiq Khan to help the capital city bounce back against Coronavirus. 

Apart of Me has been appointed to run projects to help young people in London bereaved due to coronavirus. The charity’s aim is to apply the same clinical approach and methods they use in their award-winning App to help young people combat their grief.

Apart of Me launched in 2018 as an innovative app-based adventure game that helps bereaved children use their mobile phones or tablets to help cope with the grief and confusion caused by the loss of a loved one.

“When we launched Apart of Me a couple of years ago, little did we know how badly it would be needed today, with so many children and young people left grieving for loved ones as a result of Covid-19,” said Louis Weinstock, the child psychologist who co-founded the organisation with tech entrepreneur Ben Page in 2018.

“Whilst all the talk at the moment is of our desire to return to normality, millions of children around the world have lost parents, grandparents and care-givers from this pandemic. They need our support.”

Acknowledging their new charitable status, Weinstock said, “Charity means ‘compassion’. Having our registration expedited by the Charity Commission not only confirms the urgency of our mission, but it will also allow us to fundraise and accelerate towards our goal of helping every grieving young person transform their grief into compassion.” 

From the outset the goal for Apart of Me was to combine bereavement-counseling techniques with 3D animation and gaming developments to create an app-based game that could help children and young people find a path through grief to compassion. Since then, the app has been downloaded nearly 100,000 times, receiving critical acclaim from clinical leaders and those who have used it.

Henry, who was 18 when his father died of cancer, describes the impact the game had on him. “Apart of Me was my guiding light in the dark when I felt incredibly alone, lost and confused. It helped me to understand what I was going through and took the loneliness of the whole experience away.”

A worldwide focus on mental health in recent years has seen established game developers attempt to tackle the concepts of anxiety and self-worth head-on. 

Apart of Me have been pioneers in this field with Louis and Ben collaborating with 126 skilled volunteers around the world to build their app, which was highlighted as a best-in-class app for safe and accessible support by Good Thinking, London’s Digital Mental Wellbeing Service (backed by the London Mayor’s office, Public Health England, London councils, the NHS and ThriveLDN). 

Louis’ work has previously been acknowledged by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, under the Government’s ‘Points of Light’ scheme.

In a personal letter to Louis, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I know you do this with no thought of praise or reward, but allow me to offer my own recognition of how you have created innovative, accessible grief counselling which has supported thousands of young people in the UK and abroad.”

Letters: Don’t forget dads whose babies are in neonatal care

Dear Editor

Becoming a parent and welcoming a baby into the world should be one of the happiest moments in life. But for parents whose babies start life in neonatal care, those positive feelings of optimism and joy can quickly be replaced by doubt, worry and fear.  

Having a baby in neonatal care is emotionally challenging for all parents, but for parents whose babies have been born since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been even harder.

Despite moves toward easing social distancing in the rest of society, ongoing neonatal access restrictions in neonatal units across Scotland continue to have a serious impact on families. Parents have been unable to be with their baby as much as they need to be and some parents – often fathers and partners – have been unable to spend time with or be involved in their baby’s care at all.

It can be especially tough for dads who are often forced to return to work while their baby is still in a neonatal unit. That’s why Bliss has long been calling on the Government to give both dads and mums an extra paid week off work for every week their baby is in neonatal care, to ensure the best outcomes for babies, families and employers.

We know many dads find it really difficult to talk about their feelings and often experience a sense of guilt when separated from their partner and baby.

At Bliss, we’re keen to let all dads know that our services are there for them too, whether they need information or support while their baby is in neonatal care.

For more information visit bliss.org.uk/dont-forget-dads

Peter Bradley

Information and Support Manager at Bliss Scotland, Scotland’s leading charity for babies born premature or sick

George Heriot’s pupils raise £2,616 by taking part in Invisible Cities’ ‘In Our Shoes’ Challenge

As part of their Poverty Week focus, students kept their shoes on for 48 hours straight to raise awareness around homelessness 

George Heriot’s School took part in Invisible Cities’ ‘In Our Shoes’ Challenge: an innovative new challenge introduced by the social enterprise, where pupils are asked to keep their shoes on for 48 hours straight (without removing them at all).   

The mission behind the challenge is to help school children to understand more about and discuss some of the issues faced by rough sleepers while on the streets such as podiatry issues, lack of access to adequate shoes, etc.  

Zakia  Moulaoui  Guery, CEO and Founder of Invisible Cities said: “We are delighted to say, that through completing this challenge, George Heriots School raised an amazing £2616 which we split with our fellow social enterprise and friends at the Grassmarket Community Project.”  

Based right next to the school, Grassmarket Community Project have been a long-standing partner of Invisible Cities and have supported with recruiting new guides and working on collaborative projects together.  

Katherine Duncan, Principal Teacher of Curricular Enhancement, explained: “Our Junior School pupils took part in Poverty Awareness Week at the end of March as part of our annual Financial Education focus. 

“It created an opportunity for them to learn more about the causes of poverty (both locally and globally) and how poverty impacts on the rights of everyone affected.   

“Putting themselves “in the shoes” of rough sleepers not only allowed our pupils to empathise with rough sleepers, but also helped them to make a difference by raising £2616 for Invisible Cities and the Grassmarket Community Project.”

Invisible Cities is a social enterprise that trains people who have previously experienced   homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own city in Edinburgh, Glasgow , York and Manchester. 

Zakia  Moulaoui  Guery, CEO and Founder of Invisible Cities, said: ” This challenge was designed to give a different perspective on homelessness and focus on a very practical issue that people can face. 

“We are so thankful to the school, teachers and pupils alike for taking part and supporting us with such a generous donation.”   

Jonny Kinross, CEO for Grassmarket Community Project, said: “We are delighted to be one of the beneficiaries of George Heriots School’s incredible fundraising effort as part of their poverty awareness week.

“With this donation we will be able to provide practical support, training, access to free IT classes, free IT equipment, free food 5 days a week and one to one support including counselling and therapies to many of the City’s homeless and vulnerable.   

“As the lockdown relaxes and we are able to provide one-to-one face to face support this donation will enable us to re-connect to people who are exceptionally vulnerable and isolated – to help them sustain their tenancies, ensure they receive the benefits and support to which they are entitled as well as get the emotional and mental health support they need.

“What an exceptional fundraising initiative and our huge thanks go out to the pupils and their families who got behind and will help us to ensure that no one is left behind in the city’s recovery.”   

For more information on Invisible Cities visit https://invisible-cities.org/     

Quarriers launch appeal to ‘Bring Back Smiles’

Quarriers has launched its ‘Bring Back Smiles’ appeal to support vulnerable young people and to help them to recover from the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.

As a leading social care charity, Quarriers already provides vital support for children, families and young people and has launched the fundraising campaign to support over 1000 children across Scotland and to provide positive experiences and resources.

Dr Ron Culley, Chief Executive of Quarriers, said: “For many young people the changes brought by the pandemic have been overwhelming and the world has seemed a scary and unpredictable place.

“Every day our highly experienced staff are seeing children who have high levels of anxiety, low mood, lack of motivation and loss of confidence.

“As restrictions are relaxing, many of us are getting back to the activities that we enjoy. However, poverty, disability and disadvantage will make it too hard for many families to give their children positive experiences over the summer to support their mental health and that is why we have launched the ‘Bring Back Smiles’ appeal.”

Donations can be made at www.quarriers.org.uk/smiles and just £5 could support vulnerable youngsters in the following ways:

  • Boost independence – help to cover transport costs for teenagers in rural areas to meet up with friends over the summer.
  • Build confidence – provide funding for a child to take part in an activity they have never done before such as paddle boarding.
  • Lift spirits – help to fund safety equipment to help youngsters have fun, such as a bike helmet.

Quarriers provide essential support across Scotland through their work with young carers, children with complex needs and young people who are in care or have experience of care, and families coping with poverty.

Quarriers also provides mental health support through school-based services and they have first-hand experience of the help children need to move on from the difficulties of recent times.

Beautiful little girl in a blue dress eating an ice cream.

Christine Dow, Project Worker, Quarriers Let’s Talk Service, said: “COVID has changed the experience our children have had of childhood, and we don’t know the long-term impact this will have on our youngster’s development.

“But what we do know is that we are seeing a huge effect on their mental health right now and we want to help them. Throughout the pandemic, Quarriers frontline workers have kept support going and by using video calls, telephone calls or sometimes just texting we have learned that many of the children we support are anxious.

“Some children can’t stop thinking about the dangers of the virus and some feel frightened of the outside world or find going outside stressful. Lockdown saw family routines break down, sleeping patterns disrupted and appetites affected. Some children have experienced low moods and lack of motivation whilst others have experienced panic attacks.

“We know mental health services have seen a huge increase in referrals and supporting our young people at this crucial time is vital. We hope to help as many youngsters as possible across Scotland through the Quarriers Children’s Fund.”

To help to ‘Bring Back Smiles’ please visit: www.quarriers.org.uk/smiles

Fort Kinnaird extends support for local charity

Fort Kinnaird has announced that its popular giant giving box, originally installed for Christmas, will now be a permanent feature at the centre in a bid to help raise funds for its charity partner, Venchie Children & Young People’s Project.

Located outside Tony Macaroni and Boots, visitors can use contactless payment to easily donate £3, £5 and £10 to the charity.

Venchie Children & Young People’s Project is a grass-roots charity located in Niddrie and is committed to improving the lives of children and young people in the local area.

The charity operates within a purpose-built centre and offers local youngsters a range of play, recreation and issue-based youth work, along with an all-weather pitch, a basketball area and swings and a sand play area for them to enjoy.

It is one of the oldest adventure-play charities in Scotland and has been supporting local children for over 60 years.

The giving box at Fort Kinnaird raised over £1,545 for Cash for Kids’ Mission Christmas campaign and the centre hopes that it will continue to be as successful for Venchie’s Children and Young People’s Project this year.

Liam Smith, centre director at Fort Kinnaird, said: “Our Christmas Giving Box was very popular and we have decided to make the box a permanent feature at the centre to support our newly nominated charity, Venchie Children & Young People’s Project.

“The charity plays an important and much valued role in the local community. Now shoppers can help us to support this wonderful organisation continue to grow their incredible work with the tap of a card or phone.”

Fort Kinnaird is now welcoming visitors back after it reopened its non-essential stores last week. The centre continues to have extra social distancing measures and hand sanitising stations in place to help everyone enjoy a safe shopping experience.

Financial boost for children in the east of Scotland

Disadvantaged young people across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk have received a financial boost with the launch of a new partnership between Radio Forth’s Cash for Kids and Charles River Laboratories.

The pharma company has presented the charity with a donation of £10,000 and pledged to raise more vital funds in the future. The donation will go directly towards the next grant round of funding, supporting community groups and families – many of whom are facing a financial emergency in the pandemic.

As part of the partnership, colleagues at Charles River Laboratories have signed up to take part in the Virtual Kiltwalk as well as Cash for Kids’ own Virtual Tour de Forth event. They’ll also provide a team of volunteers for the next Mission Christmas campaign in December.

Edinburgh-based Director at Charles River Laboratories, Morag Myers, said: “After such a challenging year for fundraising, we are hopeful that this initial donation of £10,000 will go a long way to help families in our local community and have a positive impact on the lives of children and young people.

“At Charles River, our purpose is clear, and our passion is strong: together, we create healthier lives.  One of our key values is Care and one of the ways that we demonstrate this is by supporting  the communities where we work and live.  By Supporting Cash For Kids we are looking forward to doing just that.”

Charity Manager at Radio Forth’s Cash for Kids, Victoria Hendry, added: “2020 was a hugely challenging year for our charity, with events and numerous fundraisers cancelled, but it was thanks to the efforts of our individual and corporate supporters that we were able to re-open grant funding towards the end of the year.

“We’ve already supported more than 7,000 children in 2021, with over £110,000 in financial support so far.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the Scottish team at Charles River Laboratories for their generous donation and commitment to go even further for us in the future. The pandemic has proved to us that every single penny we raise can make a difference. Their donation will change lives for the better and help Cash for Kids reach and help even more young people right across the region.”

Scotmid Community Connect cash for three local projects

Three charities based in the East of Scotland have been awarded £8,500 each, thanks to Scotmid Co-operative’s Community Connect award scheme.

Children with Cancer & Leukaemia Advice and Support for Parents (CCLASP), the Citadel Arts Group and Venture Scotland, secured the funding after being shortlisted by the convenience retailer as one of nine good causes across Scotland to receive financial support from a total pot of £75,000.

Edinburgh-based Venture Scotland, a charity which provides young people aged between 16 and 30, who are struggling with life, the chance to take part in a personal development course based in the outdoors, expressed their gratitude at receiving the lifeline funding.

David Brackenridge, CEO of Venture Scotland, said: “The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone. However, it has been particularly hard for young people who were already struggling with their mental health before we went into lockdown.

“Scotmid’s generous funding will allow us to continue to support disadvantaged young people through our outdoors based personal development Journey programmes, to enable them to lead happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives.”

Since Scotmid’s Community Connect launched in 2017, more than £450,000 has been awarded to 54 good cause groups enabling key projects to come to life in local areas.

Harry Cairney, Chair of East Regional Committee at Scotmid, said: “The pandemic has created numerous challenges for communities to overcome and adapt to.

“Community Connect was established to enable us to extend the ways in which we can support the communities that we serve, and we are delighted to provide Venture Scotland, CCLASP and the Citadel Arts Centre, with this funding as they continue to provide vital support to their communities.”

CCLASP has provided vital support for families living with a child with cancer for the last 25 years. They offer families respite holidays at their cottage in Muthill. These holidays provide an oasis of peace for families at their darkest of times and any funds will be used to keep this amazing offering open to families needing a break.

Based in Leith for the last 10 years, Citadel Arts Group stimulates and expresses the creativity of older people through stories, memory books and lively dramas helping to celebrate the history of Leith. Funding will be used to create audio plays inspired by the stories to entertain the whole community.

In normal times, Scotmid would typically select a shortlist of community projects which its members then vote on to allocate different amounts of funding.

However, due to the pandemic, the Scotmid Board agreed that all shortlisted charities and community groups would receive equal amounts of funding within each region.

Redundancy fears as cancer charity’s services are suspended

All staff at Breast Cancer Haven are at risk of redundancy after trustees announced its services would be suspended because of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 

In a statement published on its website on Friday, the charity said it had taken the decision to suspend operations “for the time being”, putting all of its staff – believed to be 26 people – at risk of redundancy.

According to the charity’s latest accounts, for the year to the end of May 2020, it employed 67 staff and reported a total income of £3.8m. Total spending was nearly £4m.

But the charity said it had already made about 40 staff redundant since the pandemic began, and had been forced to close its five centres and other in-hospital face-to-face services. 

The charity’s healthcare professionals will still provide individual support as well as online groups and classes up until the end of June, Breast Cancer Haven said, and it will honour all existing individual therapy appointments, while endeavouring to honour existing visitors’ full treatment plans if possible.

In addition, visitors with first consultations booked before 23 April will still be able to access a maximum of four hours of individual therapy time, the charity said. 

Breast Cancer Haven still has to raise a further £100,000 to deliver these services up until the end of June, and the charity said it welcomed any continued donations its supporters can give.

The statement said: “It is with huge sadness that Breast Cancer Haven’s board of trustees has made the extremely difficult decision to suspend operations for the time being.

“This means we will be pausing the delivery of our live online service and, with great regret, putting all our staff at risk of redundancy.

“Despite a series of cost-cutting measures, including saying goodbye to valued colleagues, we are not able to continue normal operations at this time. 

“This means that we will be pausing the delivery of our live online services that have helped around 1,800 people by providing over 10,000 appointments since lockdown began in March 2020.”

The charity thanked its staff, volunteers and therapists and said it would make further announcements regarding its future as soon as possible.

“And so shines a good deed in a weary world”

Author celebrates ‘Covid hard work and kindness’ in a commemorative charity book


Inspired by Shakespeare’s “and so shines a good deed in a weary world”, an author has donated her time to produce a commemorative book celebrating the hard work and kindness seen across the UK during the Covid pandemic.

Anna James spent more than 6 months interviewing key workers, everyday heroes and familiar faces as well as charities and organisations and collating the stories and photos of their ‘good deeds’.

She has self-published the 350+ page coffee-table style book to celebrate their efforts and to raise money for the NHS and other good causes.

Amongst many others, the book includes contributions from NHS workers, dustbin men, cleaners and farmers; home-schooling families, isolating couples and Covid survivors; Her Majesty the Queen, Captain Tom, Ian Broudie, Banksy and Charlie Mackesy; Fareshare, Samaritans, NSPCC and Age UK; M&S, The Royal Mint, Chester Zoo and even a loo roll manufacturer!

The book also features hundreds of photos of some of the things we’ve all been seeing and experiencing over the past 12 months.

Anna said: “I desperately wanted to do something to help but didn’t know how to be useful – I’m a bit squeamish with anything medical and always get lost, even with satnav, so I’d have been no good at volunteering to help people or deliver things.

“After a few sleepless nights, I decided to stick with what I’m good at and to create a special compilation of this most unusual moment in our history. I would make one of my commemorative books as my small gift to the national effort.

“2020 was an unprecedented year with monumental challenges and heart-breaking sadnesses but amongst that, there was also exceptional hard work, adaptability and kindness. Our humanity and community spirit shone in the darkness and I thought it was important to celebrate that, so we’ve got something to look back on and be proud of.

“I also thought it was important to record some of the things we were all seeing and experiencing – in years to come, when this is hopefully far behind us, will we remember the rainbows? That people joined forces in their thousands to make masks and scrubs for the NHS?

“Will we remember that we clapped outside, every Thursday night? That whole towns and cities were deserted and that shops ran out of toilet roll? I wanted to document some of that to help us remember; as a social history record for us to show our grandchildren, and for them to show theirs.

“I am humbled to have become the caretaker of this most amazing collection of stories from all these everyday heroes who share what they did to help the country and each other, which are heart-warming and heart-wrenching in equal measures.

“It’s probably the book none of us would ever have wanted but perhaps the one we all need, to remind ourselves what a kind and generous bunch we can be.”

As we approach a year since the UK went into its first lockdown, Covid Kindness: UK 2020 is available to order at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Covid-Kindness-UK…/dp/1527275825 to help you remember and reflect on the past 12 months.

All profits go to NHS Charities Together and other good causes.

Health in Mind receives £2000 donation from Amazon Edinburgh

Staff and volunteers at a mental health and wellbeing charity have received a £2,000 donation from Amazon Development Centre Scotland in Edinburgh.

Health in Mind has been promoting mental health and wellbeing in Scotland since 1982. The charity provides a wide range of services such as Peer Connections Edinburgh, which helps adults who want to improve or manage their mental health by spending time with a peer volunteer  that has their own experiences of mental health recovery. 

The charity also runs iThrive Edinburgh, an online resource hub for the people of Edinburgh that provides information on mental health and wellbeing. 

The donation from Amazon will go towards supporting their vital work in Edinburgh, including our Peer Connecting Service and Equal Access, which supports people from ethnic minority communities

Commenting on the donation, Graeme Smith, Managing Director at Amazon Development Centre Scotland, said: “We are pleased to support the great work of Health in Mind with this donation.

“The staff and volunteers go the extra mile to ensure the people of our community struggling with their mental health are supported.”

Lynne Stanford, Fundraising Manager from Health in Mind, said: “We want to say a huge thank you to Graeme and the Amazon team for this donation.

“It means a great deal to us to have this support at this time – COVID-19 has had a huge impact on people’s mental health.  This donation helps raise awareness and importance for the support we provide and ensures we are here for people when they need us the most.”

Amazon Development Centre Scotland has been based in Edinburgh since 2004 and is responsible for devising and growing innovations that bring new levels of choice and convenience to hundreds of millions of customers around the world. 

It houses teams of leading engineers, scientists, designers and product managers who work on everything from interactive user interface design to large-scale distributed systems and machine learning. The team is currently recruiting for a number of positions including software developers, engineers and applied scientists.

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

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

Throughout the pandemic Amazon has provided students with free online STEM resources and supported virtual classrooms with no-cost resources from AWS. The company has also teamed up with charity partner Magic Breakfast to deliver over 3 million healthy breakfasts to disadvantaged children around the UK.

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