CCS Fact File

The title of today's post, as well as much of its content, is unashamedly stolen from CCS's most recent Annual Review.  It's a really interesting document full of information about what all their projects achieved in 2012/13.  There's a link to it at the bottom of the "Our Mission and Values" page of the CCS website (www.cathchild.org.uk); I recommend having a look, especially as it's not too long! 

For those of you who don't make it there, or to tempt you to visit, here is a little distillation of some of the facts and figures I found most interesting.  They all refer to the 2012/13 operating year. 

400 children, parents and carers used the "Stay & Play" facility in North Kensington, benefitting from specialist equipment and opportunities to socialise. 

This project also provided families with Christmas food hampers and appropriate gifts for their children, transforming the festive season from a trial to a treat. 

The School Counselling service enabled 767 children, young people and parents to access psychotherapy or play therapy. 

St Francis Family Centre in Poplar provided 140 people with advice or an emergency voucher from the "Crisis Fund". 

Over 400 people benefitted from the services of this project over the year. 

So what could your donation do? 

£20 will buy specialist toys for a child with learning disabilities. 

£50 will fund a play therapy session for a young child struggling with mental health issues. 

£100 will buy a set of educational toys for the St Francis Family Centre toy library, so that children from deprived backgrounds can borrow them to play with at home. 

And what about the value of the £2000 I'm raising for CCS? 

£500 will fund a bereavement workshop for 30 parents struggling to support their child following the death of a loved one. 

£1,000 will enable a child who has experienced domestic violence to receive counselling sessions for a year, preventing the associated mental health problems from persisting into adult life. 

Each tiny action really does help to bring nearer the day when no child has to suffer because of a poor start in life.  Could you help this week by telling a friend about my project? 

Two months and counting...

Apparently it's a whole month since my last "countdown" post.  So what is there to report?  Well, I'd like to say that I've made excellent progress with training and that my fundraising activities have doubled in fruitfulness. 

Unfortunately, the above statement reflects desire far more accurately than reality.  There have been little steps in the right direction, though.  It's great to see an increase of pageviews of this blog - please do keep on visiting! - and the virginmoneygiving thermometer continues to inch up.  I'm sure it'll accelerate as April approaches, especially if I manage to take enough time out from my studies (too many pieces of coursework to write at present...) to spread the word a bit further and more insistently about my project. 

Training, it has to be said, is making me realise I'm not 20 anymore.  Gone are the days when a couple of jogs around the blog was all it needed to wake my muscles up.  Now, they scream, stiffen, and remain as weak as ever!  OK, I am exaggerating.  Barring something unexpected, I don't have any real worries about getting round, so I guess it's mainly my pride at stake.  It would be self-deception not to admit that a faster run than last time is what I'd like to achieve! 

I know, though, that whether it takes me 3 hours(!) or 7, the real satisfaction will be in having contributed to empowering people in difficult life situations.  I am so fortunate - materially secure, loved, privileged in so many ways.  What would give me the right to live with my eyes closed to people who aren't so lucky? 

A Visit to CCS HQ!

With the cash I'd collected mounting up, I thought that taking it to the Catholic Children's Society offices myself would be a good way of finding out a bit more about the charity your donations and my running are supporting!  I've been to Charles Square before, but had never realised that there was such a lot tucked behind that stretch of Ladbroke Grove.  Eventually I made it past the school and Sixth Form College to the premises of CCS, where you will also find a small French school and the offices of a couple of other charities.  Once in the CCS offices, though, I was surprised to find it really peaceful.  Megan, my main contact there, gave me a tour and introduced me to some of the staff, who kept saying, "You're so generous to do this for us."  I don't really associate the generosity with myself - that's more the realm of you donors and supporters, as well as the staff up there.  I just do something I enjoy, with the added reward of knowing that it's having a positive impact on the lives of people I haven't even met. 

Certainly the CCS staff must have the same sense of fulfilment in their work to continue day after day with the task of asking people for money.  I really don't envy them.  There are so many charities vying for attention, and so many of them doing invaluable and irreplaceable work!  CCS is small.  All it does is offer support to a few thousand children in the Westminster area.  But each of those is an individual with a future ahead of them, with their own dignity, their own capacity to make the world a better place, just needing a little support to live in a way which will enable them to reach their potential. 

I haven't visited any of CCS's projects yet, but the very personal and individual support which is provided clearly makes a real difference to the families who use their services.  That might be as simple as a food hamper at Christmas to change the day from a trial to a celebration, or as complex as school-based psychotherapy for a child struggling with mental health issues.  Thank you for helping to make that difference.  The good news is that recent donors Georgia, Hannah, Barbara and John have brought the current total to £710.88!  You, and all of you who support me, are the real stars of this project!