Wooden Spoon donates £246,000 to local charities affected by COVID-19
Wooden Spoon, the children’s charity of rugby, has donated £246,000 to local children’s charities across the UK and Ireland affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
The national rugby charity with a strong local footprint have given funds to local charities, across 32 regions in the UK & Ireland that were struggling to run essential services due a reduction in funding caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wooden Spoon have donated the funds to 76 vital services supporting children from children’s hospices, community food banks to charities offering mental health support to young people.
The funds were generated through The Telegraph Christmas Appeal 2019 and funds raised by Wooden Spoon’s long-standing corporate supporter Rugbytots in 2019.
One of the charities supported by Wooden Spoon’s emergency fund is Jessie May Children’s Hospice at Home who provide a children’s home hospice service through specialist nurses to terminally ill children and their families in Bristol and the surrounding areas.
Director of Development at Jessie May Children’s Hospice at Home, Clare Pearce said:
‘”We were delighted to be chosen as one of the recipients for the Wooden Spoon Emergency funding programme. The pandemic has seen the voluntary income of Jessie May drop dramatically over the last few months but the nursing of terminally ill children and their families does not stop.
The emergency funding from the society was a welcome and much needed boost during this difficult time to enable us to continue our hospice at home service.”
Jessie May Children’s Hospice at Home
Twenty thousand pounds have been pledged to The Larder Catalyst Kitchen in Livingston through the scheme by Wooden Spoon Scotland. The Larder is a Scottish social enterprise that aims to change lives through food. 100% of profits made go towards helping disadvantaged people into work.
The charity have described the impact these funds will have: “At the moment we are supporting 100 young people under the age of 24 each week, some are homeless and have been moved from bed and breakfast accommodation to temporary accommodations, many the first time living on their own.
“Children we are supporting are living in families that have lost their jobs and have no income, awaiting benefits and others live in families with poor mental health, disabilities and overall are the most disadvantaged children and families.
“Overall we are delivering 2000 meals per week to those experiencing the most difficulty across West Lothian.”
The Larder Catalyst Kitchen
Wooden Spoon CEO, Sarah Webb said: “We are delighted to have helped so many charities through such a difficult time.
Vulnerable children and young people need our help more than ever. Now is the time for the rugby community to come together and make positive changes to support children and their families living in difficult circumstances.
Thanks to support of our corporate partner Rugbytots, The Telegraph and our regional volunteers who work tirelessly to raise funds for Wooden Spoon, we have been able to make a significant impact on charities supporting children with disabilities and living in disadvantage across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland at a time when they were struggling the most.
However, we know things are going to get even tougher as the effects of COVID-19 push more children into poverty and deeper disadvantage and children with complex needs continue to miss out on a range of essential services, so we are asking the rugby community to please continue to dig deep and please continue to get behind us during these challenging times.”
To find out more about the charities supported through Wooden Spoon’s emergency funding, click here.
There are lots of ways you can help Wooden Spoon support more vulnerable families. You can donate, join our membership scheme or take part in a virtual challenge.
