Newspapers Launch Christmas Charity Appeals
Local and national newspapers across the UK are encouraging readers to dig deep and support charitable causes over Christmas.
The Medway Messenger is supporting its local foodbank and encouraging readers to donate non-perishable goods. Home to nearly 280,000 residents 2017 saw 5,559 people unable to afford to feed themselves on at least one occasion.
The Daily Mail Christmas campaign aims to recruit NHS volunteers after 7,000 people pledge 400,000 hours of their time. The list of jobs to be filled by volunteers includes: working with heart-surgery patients in the gym by assisting them with the exercise equipment; talking to anxious patients waiting in A&E; entertaining young patients on children’s’ wards.
The Shropshire Star has partnered with Storage King to collect toys and gifts for children and teenagers who might find Christmas a difficult time. The Appeal was originally launched in 2015, and has seen nearly 3,000 gifts distributed.
The Evening Standard AIDSfree appeal which was launched in early December has helped raise £1million in just 10 days. In conjunction with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Campaign is aiming to tackle the epidemic across the world and boost the number of people being tested for HIV.
The Telegraph Christmas Charity appeal focuses on three causes which support those experiencing mental health difficulties. Changing Faces provides advice and support for people with a visible difference through counselling, networks and skin camouflage services.
The Fire Fighters charity offers psychological support to firefighters in the wake of major incidents. YoungMinds is a lifeline to thousands of parents and carers to prevent young people from coming to harm.
The Noah’s Ark Charity Tiny Lives Appeal is being supported by the South Wales Echo which wants to help raise £1million to provide funding for premature or critically ill babies. The £1million would go towards the development of the neonatal intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Wales, and would provide life-saving equipment for ill babies.
The Sunday Times has teamed up with Crisis for an appeal combatting homelessness in Britain. Crisis estimates that 240,000 people are either in temporary accommodation or sleeping rough. The paper outlines what services different amounts of donations can provide: £5 would go towards an advice session, £28.18 would provide a place at Crisis at Christmas and include three hot meals and £84 would cover an eye test and a pair of glasses for someone sleeping rough.
The Daily Echo has joined forces with local children’s charity Amelia’s Rainbow for an annual Toy Appeal. Amelia’s Rainbow supports children in Dorset and the surrounding area who are suffering from any terminal, life-limiting, serious and chronic illnesses.
With more than half a million foodbank meals being given to children this Christmas, End Hunger, Feed a Family Christmas appeal has been launched by The Mirror. The Trussell Trust foodbanks, which have teamed up with the paper, gave away 159,388 emergency parcels in 2017 in the run-up to and over the festive period – a total of 1.4 million meals.
The Stirling Observer has relaunched its Give a Gift at Christmas Appeal. The appeal has been running since 2008, receiving and distributing donations of toys and gifts for sick, disabled, needy and disadvantaged children and young people in Stirling at Christmas.
The Guardian and Observer Christmas appeal is supporting five charities which played an essential role in securing justice for the Windrush generation, and whose work protects the rights of all those who face their lives being turned upside down by the UK’s hostile immigration system. Donations will go towards legal assistance and advocacy for people who may face destitution, deportation or indefinite detention after being unfairly separated from loved ones, denied the right to work or to access basic services including housing, the NHS and social security.
