KFC Youth Foundation

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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. 

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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!

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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!

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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!

Festive card competition

For the second year running, we held a competition with our partners, asking young people to create a festive design for the Foundation's 2025 Festive cards. It was a tough decision, with lots of fabulous entries, but we are so pleased to announce this years' winner Youbin from Good Nugget! Congratulations Youbin!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered!

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Visit to Woodpecker Wood

The KFC Youth Foundation recently took a trip to the idyllic Woodpecker Court to catch up with their partners at Woodpecker Wood CIC who received a £2,500 grant in Summer 2023 to support the opening of their community cafe. Woodpecker Wood exists to improve the life chances of young people, whose circumstances have led them to struggle to develop in readiness for adult life by providing them with activities and experiences, utilising the outdoors to deliver support and education.

Here’s what Principal, Dominic, had to say about the impact the grant has made  “We are delighted to have received the funding from the KFC Youth Foundation. It has made a real difference because catering equipment is expensive. The aim of the café is to create student learning opportunities and a low-cost offer to the community, reflecting the cost of living crisis. Your generosity has helped us to meet that aim.”

We’re really pleased to say that Woodpecker Wood have been successful again this year in their funding application for the Community Grants Programme and have been awarded two years of funding! We can’t wait to see the amazing work they do with this funding. “

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Kat's running the Dublin Marathon!

KFC's Kat Smart is running the Dublin Marathon for the KFC Youth Foundation in October 2024. You can support by donating to her Just Giving Page here. 

A huge thank you to Kat for taking on this gigantic challenge!

"When I finished London Marathon in 2022 I did say to myself "that's me done with full marathons"... but here I am doing another one! Older and wiser, maybe not so much, but definitely grit and determination to complete the Dublin Marathon on the 27th Oct, 2024."

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