Tag: charity

Help Poppy the Hamster find her way home!

The Scottish SPCA is appealing for information after a hamster was found loose on a Leith street during the recent blizzards. The animal welfare charity was contacted on Monday evening (18 March) after a member of the public spotted the little rodent on Spey Street, just off Pilrig Street. Now named Poppy, the female Syrian hamster is being cared for at SSPCA’s Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre.

Animal Rescue Officer Duncan Robertson said, “Poppy is around a year old and in good condition. It’s very lucky she was found by someone who helped her as there was a severe blizzard on Monday evening and it was bitterly cold. Poppy was found in Leith, which is a built up area with lots of flats nearby. Hamsters are fast creatures and can wriggle through small spaces so there is a chance she has escaped from home.

“However, we are keeping an open mind at this stage and can’t rule out the possibility she may have been abandoned by her owner. Poppy could have easily come to harm so we’re really glad she’s now safe. We’re keen to hear from anyone who recognises Poppy and, in the meantime, we’ll ensure she receives the care she needs. “If no-one comes forward, we’ll be looking to find Poppy a loving new home.”

Anyone with information is being asked to contact the SSPCA Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999.

Poppy

Sainsbury’s support for St Columba’s Hospice

Just a quick update on how we are getting along with our Local Charity of the Year 2012/13 – St Columba’s Hospice.

The staff at Sainsbury’s in Blackhall are big supporters of St Columba’s Hospice, as are all their customers. Since 2012, the store and its shoppers have raised over £6000 by collecting loose change at the checkouts and bag packs.  Thank you to everyone for their support.

Shay, Sainsbury’s Blackhall

St Columba's

Lend a hand at MS Therapy Centre makeover

The Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Therapy Centre in Leith is undergoing a makeover on 8,9 and 10 February and is looking for around 20 volunteers who can spare a few hours to help with decorating.

The refurbishment is the first in more than a decade and has been made possible thanks to the generosity of local tradesmen. Johnstone’s Paints, Edinburgh and Ideal Carpets, Musselburgh are among the local businesses that have donated materials and given their time free of charge.

Nancy Campbell, Operations Manager, MS Therapy Centre said: “The place needs brightened up. We haven’t been able to afford to for the past ten years, as the centre costs so much to run, but thanks to the support of local tradesmen, we are about to see a transformation.

“We are, however, looking for people who are handy with a paintbrush and don’t mind helping out for a few hours. There is a lot of painting to be done, but I am sure it will be worth the effort and that our clients are going to love the new look. We are trying to create a more welcoming and therapeutic environment. “

One of the services offered at the MS Therapy Centre is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This takes place in a large decompression chamber, similar to the ones divers use. This is also part of the make-over plans, as Nancy explained: “We’ve commissioned a local artist to paint the outside of the chamber and create a ‘bubbles’ effect. Our clients talk about ‘going for a dive’ when they head into the chamber, so we have used this idea and I think it will make everybody smile when they see it.”

Once the internal makeover is complete, the centre is hoping to start on the outside of the building and is looking for a local artist to help in creating a graffiti-style mural for the steel shutters.

Volunteers who can help with the repainting are asked to contact the MS Therapy Centre on 0131 554 5384.

Times of the makeover:

Friday 8 February 2-6pm

Saturday 9 February 12-6pm

Sunday 10 February 12-6pm

MStherapy

New venue for Edinburgh Moonwalk

Leith Links will be the location for this year’s MoonWalk Edinburgh charity fundraiser, and while it’s a bit chilly to be thinking about such things just now, registration for the June event is now open!

New Year, New Moon, New You!

Grant-making breast cancer charity Walk the Walk is delighted to announce two new and very exciting Power Walking challenges for The MoonWalk Edinburgh Scotland on June 8. The event is also being held at a brand new venue – Leith Links.

Sign up for the New Moon and you can join a huge sleepover.  Not so much sleep, but you will be able to walk 6.6 miles, or get a team of four together to complete a Marathon between you. Best of all, whilst you wait for your turn to walk, you can snuggle up, eat popcorn and watch films in our huge pink tent. If you’ve never taken part in a Marathon, this is a great place to start.

Or if you are looking for the next extreme challenge, then the “Over the Moon” is for you. Two MoonWalks back to back, covering a distance of 52.4 miles!

Walk the Walk is still offering its famous Half Moon (13.1 miles) and Full Moon (26.2 miles) challenges, with all walkers uniting together to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.

All walkers over the age of 13 wear Walk the Walk’s trademark brightly decorated bras. This year’s theme is “Psychedelic Extravaganza”, where the swinging 60’s meets 2013!

The MoonWalk Edinburgh Scotland has raised in excess of £15 million since it was launched eight years ago. Most of the money raised stays in Scotland, helping to improve the lives of people with cancer. More than £1.5 million was raised by the 2012 event alone.

Nina Barough CBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Walk The Walk said: “Anybody can do The MoonWalk. I have seen many women and men over the years commit to taking part, with no idea of how they are actually going to achieve it. Most of them have never done any regular exercise, let along taken part in a Marathon.
It really is wonderful that with the support of thousands of people in Scotland, Walk the Walk has succeeded in raising more than £15 million, making a huge difference to the lives of cancer patients across Scotland. We also know from the many thousands of letters we receive, that by taking part in The MoonWalk, we are helping people to become fitter and healthier, changing their lives for the better. So, come and join our Magical Mystery Tour, a Psychedelic Extravaganza, where anything goes, as long as it is bright and bold”!

Entries for The MoonWalk Edinburgh Scotland are now open. To enter and for more information about Walk the Walk, go to www.walkthewalk.org

moonwaLK

Charity challenge cash for Maggies Centre

Buccleuch Property has raised £17,000 for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres following fundraising efforts at the Buccleuch Property Challenge.

More than 150 property professionals from across the UK took part in the annual outdoor adrenalin challenge, at the Duke of Buccleuch’s Drumlanrig Castle and Queensberry Estate. Participants – who entered in teams of three – endured a six-hour test of mental and physical endurance, split into three stages of running, mountain biking and orienteering.

The Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) property team raised the highest individual amount for the Challenge and were rewarded with three bottles of Champagne for their efforts.

Maggie’s was chosen as this year’s nominated charity by the Buccleuch Property team. Maggie’s offers free emotional, practical and social support to people with cancer and their families and friends. Maggie’s is there for people at any stage of any type of cancer and no appointments are necessary. Maggie’s Edinburgh was the first Maggie’s Centre, opened in 1996, and is located at Western General Hospital.

Buccleuch Property managing director David Peck said: “We have supported Maggie’s as part of a year-long fundraising campaign. The centres provide unrivalled support to anyone affected by cancer and are helping thousands of people each year. It is hard to imagine what it would be like without charities, such as Maggie’s and we hope our fundraising efforts will go some way to helping them continue to provide this essential support.”

Aoife McDonogh, Corporate Relationship Manager at Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, said: “We rely on the support of organisations such as Buccleuch Property, in order for us to continue to support those affected by cancer. The Challenge raised an exceptional amount and we are extremely grateful to Buccleuch Property and all the teams who took part for their fundraising efforts.”

Maggies

Bank interest in North Edinburgh News

rbs2

The NEN has received a cheque for £500 from The Royal Bank of Scotland. The banks’s charity committee agreed to support an application by  NEN board member Eddie Thorn.

Kevin Havelock, Regional Director for Corporate and Institutional Banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, explained: “Following the difficulties that RBS experienced in recent years we are looking to reconnect with the communities that we all live and work in.”

He went on: “We are very fortunate at RBS to have many staff who have been with us for twenty, twenty-five even thirty years and many of them are active in their communities. We established a system of grants to support local charities and community initiatives nominated by our staff.

“The Edinburgh Community Partnership Board has representation from every division of the bank – there are eleven people in all on the committee, each with an equal vote. We were delighted both with the volume and the great variety of nominations that came in, and we agreed our first round of grants in October. We are supporting a very broad spectrum of good causes, from supplying sports equipment to groups to helping local health charities.”

Royal Bank of Scotland will donate £100,000 in a rolling programme in the East of Scotland, and one of the first forty grateful recipients is North Edinburgh News.

North Edinburgh News treasurer Eddie Thorn said: “The Royal Bank of Scotland is to be commended for their wide contribution to local communities. It is particularly pleasing that they recognised all that the NEN strives to achieve, and we are very grateful for the bank’s generous support – it’s much appreciated.”

Kevin added: “We will be offering practical and sometimes even physical support, too – we want the charity to get more from the bank than just a cheque. Working with and providing support to the charity is a natural progression.”

NEN’s Eddie Thorn and RBS’ Kevin Havelock are pictured outside the NEN’s base at Edinburgh College Granton Campus.

 

Oceans of support for Canine Partners

An Information Day held at Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre on Saturday 10 November has raised £171.33 for Canine Partners, a charity that provides specially trained assistance dogs to people with physical disabilities.

Visitors to the shopping centre visited a Canine Partners stand where they could pick up information and take part in a raffle. Staffing the stand were Canine Partners staff, puppies in training and people with disabilities who have a canine partner.

One of those present was Sally Hyder from Edinburgh, Olympic torch bearer and author of best-selling book Finding Harmony, which describes her life before and after she received her canine partner Harmony.

Sally was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990 but has continually strived to be an active mother to her three children, despite being in continual pain.  She said: “Thanks to Harmony I get out every day and have made new friends amongst the dog-walking community. I do my own washing and shopping.  Harmony has now learnt to put things in the washing machine rather than purely taking them out.   I have the energy to do things.  I drop things I don’t have to ask a stranger or my family to pick up after me. She even goes for help if I happen to fall out of my wheelchair.”

Dale Gormley, Canine Partners community fundraiser for Scotland, said: “Thank you to Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre for letting us have a stand and to all those who visited us.  We are striving to spread the word as much as possible about how our dogs can change the lives of people with disabilities in Scotland.  We rely heavily on volunteers and fundraisers, so if you think you can help us out do please get in touch.”

If you feel you can help Canine Partners in Scotland through fundraising, volunteering, taking on your own challenge, saving your used stamps and much more please call 0845 4811915 or visit www.caninepartners.org.uk.

Help Samaritan’s Purse Deliver its 100 Millionth Shoebox this Christmas

Samaritan’s Purse is calling on all churches, schools, workplaces, families and individuals in Edinburgh & Midlothian to help achieve a remarkable milestone – delivering their 100 millionth gift-filled shoebox during this year’s Operation Christmas Child (OCC) campaign. 

Over the past 22 years, through OCC, Samaritan’s Purse has delivered 94 million shoeboxes to needy children in over 100 countries.  To lift this total to 100 million and beyond, the charity is asking everyone in their communities to use creative ways to reach this target in time for November 18th, the final date for donors to hand in their gift-filled shoeboxes.

Edinburgh and Midlothian Area Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, June Vasey says: “We are one of the UK’s largest annual children’s charity projects, distributing over one million gift-filled shoeboxes to needy children at Christmas time last year. The challenge for us now is to grow Edinburgh and Midlothian’s contribution to this global programme, so we’re asking everyone across the region to help us achieve that.

“We are already finding throughout Edinburgh and Midlothian many individuals and groups are creatively going the extra mile in a number of ways including hosting coffee mornings, special concerts and shoebox parties.  It’s a great way to get people together and pack their shoeboxes and it’s really helping us towards our 100 million challenge.”

Samaritan’s Purse has also come up with another creative idea by asking everyone to email photographs of them holding up the shoeboxes they’ve packed, which will form one giant mosaic on the charity’s Facebook page of a child overseas holding their shoebox.

June Vasey said: “We hope this will help people visualise the impact of what each person’s shoebox can achieve in the life of a child.  It’s not about the 100 million number that’s so significant, but that each individual child will know that someone in the UK cares about them this Christmas.”

Find out how you can be part of the 100 Million Shoebox Challenge by visiting www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk for instructions on how to complete a gift-filled shoebox before the 18 November deadline.

 

Support Royal Blind’s ‘Glow in the Park’ at Fettes

Registration is now open for Royal Blind’s ‘Glow in the Park’ charity fundraiser in the grounds of Fettes College this month. Details below:

5.30pm Saturday 27 October 2012

The Grounds of Fettes College
Carrington Road, Edinburgh
Royal Blind’s Annual Children’s Sponsored Walk “Glow in the Park” registration is now open!
This year’s theme is Magic & Illusion, so magic something up to wear. And this year you could help us break the Guinness World Record for the “Largest Magic Lesson” so you too could be a record breaker!!!
What you can expect from Glow in the Park:
  • Event gates open at 5.30pm.
  • Free goodie bag & medal for each child
  • The evening will be hosted by a Forth FM presenter – who will help get us in place to set a new world record!
  • There is an indoor area to grab hot drinks and snacks
  • Take part in our toy raffle
  • Free glow in the dark face painting.
  • Magic activities around the route to add more fun to the walk.
Everyone must be registered before the event – there is a small donation of £5 per child, 3 and under free & £2 per adult. This is to cover the costs for the child’s medal, goodie bag and certificate and ensure all sponsorship money can go directly to our services we provide for the blind and visually impaired.
Click Here to secure your place, find out more information, see last year’s photos visit our event page now and register!

Click Here to see our sponsorship pack.

For further information visit www.royalblind.org.uk

Royal Blind