The anonymous donation is a clear indication of how much some of our Members value our Club and the causes that we support – and is particularly appreciated at this time of year when people traditionally look forward to Christmas and seasonal cheer.
You can read more about the two charities below:
East Kent Young Person’s Service/Sanctuary Supported Living
This is a supported living service “working with Young People leaving care, helping them to become fully independent and move on to their own homes.” The clients referred to the service are children in care, children in need, or care leavers who normally have very little, if any, family involvement and so rely on donations and funding to help them where possible.
We were contacted recently by the service’s Peer Support Coordinator, who asked for our help in supporting young people residing at a project in Canterbury. He asked if we could help fund Christmas presents for their residents – all aged between 16 & 21.
“Our young people have often been through a lot before they get to us,” says their Peer Support Coordinator, who adds “one of the things that has been highlighted with our young people is socially engaging with each other to help their mental wellbeing…The young people we support rely on benefits when they first move in, in which they must pay rent, their living costs such as food etc, which means that Christmas presents like this are something that they miss out on.”
KidsOut
The charity KidsOut came into being because of Rotary, and is supported by Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland and Rotarians everywhere. According to its website, “By 2015, KidsOut became the only charity nationally to support every child in a Women’s Aid federation refuge. Providing toys, days out, workshops and more.” The charity has the tag line of being the “fun & happiness charity” and it definitely aims to make kids (many of whom have escaped domestic violence or live daily in poverty) happy and give them “exciting memories to cherish”.
Regular readers may recall that our Club heard about KidsOut earlier this year from KidsOut Ambassador for our Rotary District (1120), Sue Johnson. Sue had contacted us to tell us about their ‘ROTARY’ Christmas Toy Box Appeal through which they hope to provide a Christmas Toy Box “for EVERY child residing in a Refuge, having been forced to flee their family home to escape domestic violence”. Our donation will go towards this.
We are very pleased to be in a position to help support both of these great causes and encourage others to do so too if they can.
You can read more about KidsOut here.
You can read about Sanctuary Supported Living here.
Picture: Christmas presents (Library picture). Picture credit: Canva.
