Christmas Giving Tree
Christmas can be a challenging time for many, particularly for those who might be struggling financially. Research into child poverty found that one in four children in the North East think a friend won't receive a Christmas present this year.
The KFC Youth Foundation has created an Amazon Wishlist to provide Christmas gifts to young people who might otherwise not receive one. There is everything on there from card games, footballs and plush toys and anything you can give is hugely appreciated! You can access the Wishlist here!
Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated so generously.
Our Very First Youth Hub
Over the past 18 months, the Foundation team has been working hard to move from being solely a financial partner into service delivery. We are so excited to announce that we have now got the keys to our very first Youth Hub, in Middlesbrough.
This will be a safe space where young people can grow, meet friends and be supported by incredible Youth Workers.
We'll be continuing to work over the next few months to get our space looking and feeling like the aspiration space that young people need to thrive!
Summer of Support
The KFC Youth Foundation is helping to support at risk families with food boxes for the six weeks summer holiday, through our Summer of Support programme in Middlesbrough. All the families experience food insecurity; all the families have adults who cut meal sizes or skipped meals in the last 12 months because there wasn't enough money for food and for 62% this is occurring monthly. To ensure that that the families receive consistent support the programme will cost £5,000. If you are able and would like to support us, please scan and purchase something from our Amazon Wishlist and help our £5,000 go a bit further!
KFC Youth Foundation visits Scotland
The Foundation Team recently took a trip to Glasgow to visit some of our amazing partners. We were also joined by one of our KFC Head Office Volunteers, Kat, who is taking on the Dublin Marathon this October to support the Foundation and was excited to get to see the incredible work of the organisations that the Foundation supports.
First off, we headed to visit Dads Rock who have just received their second grant from the Foundation of £2,500. They support and inspire Dads throughout Scotland to have the strongest relationships they can with their children, develop strong family units and provide their children a great start in life. They used their grant to support Young Dads in Glasgow who are referred by Social Work teams, family health practitioners and other professionals.
Next up, we headed over to theGKexperience who received a £2,500 grant from the Foundation earlier this year. theGKexperience journeys alongside and offers support to young people who face long-term challenges due to poverty, disadvantage, and inequality in Glasgow. They provide residential experiences, local community work, a young leaders programme and tailored individual support. Through their work, they increase confidence and skills taking new steps and making positive decisions, create a strong voice towards decisions that impact them, build resilience against adverse childhood experiences, gain leadership skills and increase prospects and improve physical and mental health.
We love getting out to visit our partners and getting to see, in action, the incredible difference they make in their communities. Thank you for having us!
Partner visits in London
Recently, we went to visit three of our partner organisations for the day in London.
First off, we met up Hope For The Young (pictured), which is a small London-based charity that believes in a world where all young refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK are given every opportunity to access education and reach their full potential. They support them in doing so by removing the obstacles to their education and well-being through mentoring, advocacy, and financial support.
We then got to meet Good Nugget, who support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and have very limited access to careers in the creative industries; which results in a lack of representation, cultural deficit and unconscious bias on our screens, stages and pages. The core of their work is inspiring and championing young people into creative roles.
Finally, we stopped off at Survivors Can Shine. Their aim is to reduce the number of young people at risk of abuse, inside & outside the home, in Camden & surrounding London Boroughs. The young people they support say their voices aren’t heard and want to use the arts to express difficult emotions and create change.
We absolutely love getting to go out and catch up with the incredible organisations that the Foundation supports and seeing their inspiring work in action. Thank you everyone for having us!
