Yorkshire Children's Charity - 2024 roundup!

Over the last 12 months, we have continued to deliver support through two very clear approaches. Through our grant-giving Programmes, we address the immediate needs of children and young people living with the hardships of sickness, disability, and deprivation.

Longer term, we deliver a whole host of intervention-led projects, aimed at breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty and unemployment.

With the help of businesses and support from the property and sector, we have led some amazing initiatives this year. We’ve delivered a jam packed programme of schools out events, giving children the opportunity to explore and engage in the world around them, in the last three weeks alone we have had 3,500 children at Christmas parties which in the words of a number of children “ was the best day of their life”. We’ve also set things in motion for our second Great Yorkshire Build at Hilltop Special Needs School in Rotherham, where we will be embarking on a 3 million pound project, giving children access to facilities they should have by right and not by privilege, with every aspect from design to build being covered pro-bono by the commercial property sector.

We have also had an incredible year for fundraising, raising a million pounds in just one evening at our A Night Under the Stars event at Grantley Hall; but with a third of Yorkshire’s children living in poverty, the needs of our young people continue to match and exceed our efforts. Just two years ago, in our first year as a charity, we delivered Christmas presents to 250 children and their families across the region. This year, we increased this number to 2000 - a 700% increase in the support we’ve provided – and yet, this is still only a small part of the 25,000 children we’re aiming to reach over the next 12 months.

At the heart of everything we do is intervention; the more we can do to steer our children and young people onto the right track, the closer we get to making intergenerational poverty a thing of the past. If we can meet the immediate needs of our children, we are also giving them the gift of being able to focus on their future, and not just trying to survive in the present. It is the first and most fundamental step in breaking down barriers to opportunities, skills, and self-belief – and making sure our children have a fair chance in this life.