This year in lieu of Christmas Cards / Corporate gifts, as a firm and as individuals we are supporting local charity; Children North East. This charity exists because growing up can be hard. They create life-changing differences for babies, children and young people in their families, schools and communities.
Children North East offer support at those times when a little help can make a big difference for a child and its future. They are also the times when, if things go wrong, they are likely to have a far-reaching, detrimental effect on the child. Ultimately, their mission is that all North East children and young people grow up to be healthy and happy.
Whether it is in their family, at school or in their local community, Children North East are there to support children, young people and their parents in the North East.
Poppy's story
Staff at Children North East care for many children and their parents living in difficult circumstances – this is the story of just one of the families helped by their Families and Parenting Service last December:
Two year old Poppy* was placed in foster care almost as soon as she was born so that her mum, Jackie, could embark on a recovery programme to help with her drug addiction.
In the run up to Christmas last year, Jackie had successfully completed her rehabilitation and was looking forward to being reunited with her little girl for their very first Christmas together.
She was keen to make it a really special time – and to prove that she could be a good mum to Poppy. However, Jackie’s financial circumstances were challenging. So Maria, a family practitioner from Children North East’s Intensive Interventions Service, who works closely with parents who have had their children removed and was supporting Jackie, made it her business to ensure Poppy and Jackie had the best Christmas ever.
Maria helped mum get her finances in order and Children North East provided her with an assortment of gifts for Poppy. Tracey Welsh, who manages their Families and Parenting Service, said:
We also put together some gifts for mum because she was isolated with no close family nearby and we knew Christmas Day would be very different for her that year.
“We took a food hamper along to help them over the Christmas period with both fresh and non-perishable food and it was so gratefully received because there was huge pressure on mum about how she was going to manage. She needed to demonstrate that she was going to do her absolute best given the circumstances.
“We were delighted to hear they had a wonderful first Christmas together and much of that was down to the generosity of our donors who understand that Christmas can be a difficult time for lots of people.”
* Names have been changed for safeguarding reasons
The team at BW Medical Accountants are offering 'hope to North East children' this Christmas by running a number of fundraising initiatives throughout December and the Directors will also be making a contribution. We will update this blog once we have calculated the final donation! The support we will provide through monetary donations will go towards practice initiatives. for example;
- £10 could buy a child a jumper to keep out the cold
- £25 could buy a cinema trip for a family to see a festive movie
- £30 could buy a warm duvet for a family facing fuel poverty
- £50 could put a Christmas dinner on the table