It has been quite a week! The feature article about Denise Welch visiting WEYES appeared in the Sunday Sun last weekend together with several photographs of her with the young people she met there. Lots of people read it and have said things like 'I read about Children North East in the paper' which is just what we want.
We heard our application to Comic Relief for a revenue grant to continue the mental health work with young people as part of the WEYES project has been successful - £120,000 over 3 years. This is a wonderful boost that shows the confidence that funders have in the WEYES project and the real benefits it has for young people.
Our two fundraisers nurture relationships with businesses all through the year, Christmas is the time when those relationships bear fruit with gifts for disadvantaged children and some extremely generous donations. For example The Listening Company north east call centre have raised £6,800 for WEYES from a cycling challenge and Northumbria Water have given £6,500 towards the WEYES campaign plus the offer of support in kind. And Sky TV have given us IT equipment for WEYES too.
There are 140 Greggs bakery shops in the North East who have each donated Christmas presents for disadvantaged children and young people. A large Greggs lorry full of gifts delivered them to us this week and we will be distributing them in the run up to Christmas. Eldon Square Shopping Centre in Newcastle is supporting our Christmas appeal too, our fundraisers have arranged for local schools to sing carols around the Christmas tree there and volunteers to shake collecting tins. Volunteers also help to collect money in the Metrocentre and local supermarkets.
It's a very busy time of year but lots to be pleased and very grateful for too.
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