Inspired by the season of giving (but not just for Christmas) we are are going to be featuring and raising the profile of local charities from across Aberdeen City and Shire.

We’ll be featuring different charities each week on our social channels and website, helping to raise awareness of the diverse range of causes that so many charities are working so hard to support and how best individuals and organisations can support them right now.

This week we are featuring leading family support charity AberNecessities.

Charity Name: AberNecessities

What do they do and who do they support?

Founded in 2019, AberNecessities is a non-profit charity that supports disadvantaged families living in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.  Throughout the year it provides critical products that are needed to care for babies and children and distributes them directly to the families in crisis.  To date, it has assisted over 8,000 children across the north-east.

AberNecessities runs an annual Christmas Eve box campaign called ‘No Child Should Go Without Believing in Magic’.  It aims to add some much-needed sparkle to the festive season for babies and children whose families are living in poverty.  Each box is filled with around £35 worth of items, including books, hats and scarves, pyjamas and puzzles, which will make the night before Christmas as memorable as possible for the youngsters ahead of a visit from Santa Claus.

What positive impact does the charity make?

Regardless of background or lifestyle, AberNecessities believes that every child should have the best possible start in life.  It aims to provide support to children of disadvantaged families across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to ensure that happens.

The charity receives referrals from a body of professionals and voluntary organisations including social workers, family nurses, health visitors, teachers and doctors.  From referral, AberNecessities aims to have the required items distributed within a two-week timeframe.

Support provided can include basic essentials for a baby to warm winter bedding for primary age children.  Other examples of how AberNecessities has assisted children and families includes:

• Supporting a mum who had been diluting baby formula so much that it was nearly pure water because she didn’t have any money left to buy more.
• Giving underwear to a toddler just out of nappies and who was going to nursery without any underwear because their mum could not afford to buy any.
• Providing clothing and toys for a mother who fled domestic violence with her three children and had nothing for them to wear or play with.

 

How can you help AberNecessities?

At short notice, AberNecessities supports children and families facing a variety of challenges and therefore requires a range of items to meet these needs.  This can include – but is not limited to – good quality, nearly new clothes, shoes, bedding and equipment.  Donations of maternity clothing are also welcomed for expectant mums, while formula milk, nappies, wipes, toiletries and baby equipment are regularly needed for newborns and young babies.

Donating £10 can purchase 300 size one nappies, while £20 allows two cartons of formula milk to be provided for a baby and £50 buys a maternity bag with clothing and toiletries for a mum to be.

As with any charity, AberNecessities also requires the assistance of volunteers to help deliver its day-to-day operations.  There are many ways volunteers can make a difference, including:

• Helping to sort through donations at the charity’s office to get them ready for distribution.
• Washing donated clothes to ensure everything that is distributed is clean, fresh and ready to wear.
• Dropping off donations to health centres, charity offices and other locations across the north-east.
• Organising an event to raise funds for the charity.
• Joining the AberNecessities knitting group and creating a range of clothing, blankets and toys for babies and young children.

 

How you can find out more?

Find out more about AberNecessities by visiting www.abernecessities.co.uk or by following them on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

Inspired by the season of giving (but not just for Christmas) we are are going to be featuring and raising the profile of local charities from across Aberdeen City and Shire.

We’ll be featuring different charities each week on our social channels and website, helping to raise awareness of the diverse range of causes that so many charities are working so hard to support and how best individuals and organisations can support them right now.

This week we are featuring leading family support charity Home-Start Aberdeen.

Charity Name: Home-Start Aberdeen

What do they do and who do they support?

Being a parent has never been easy. It can be lonely, frustrating, heartbreaking and overwhelming.

Home-Start Aberdeen provide a support service where carefully selected and trained volunteers are there for families, visiting them in their own homes with compassionate, confidential help, backed by expert staff.

Volunteers support parents, with at least one child under the age of 5, as they learn to cope, improve their confidence and build better lives for their children.

What positive impact does the charity make?

Over 90% of parents see significant improvements in their own and their children’s emotional and physical health and wellbeing following Home-Start support.

“With the support of a Home-Start volunteer, I learned how to interact and play with my daughter put boundaries in place, and create a safe and secure home. I can’t thank you enough for listening and being there to help. I really appreciate it.”

 

How can you help Home-Start Aberdeen?

There are several ways you can support Home-Start Aberdeen from becoming a Home-Visiting volunteer, volunteering in its charity shop on George Street.

Home-Start Aberdeen urgently need volunteers to work in its shop in George Street.  An ideal volunteer is a people-person with great communication skills, and who is comfortable handling money.  Previous retail experience isn’t necessary as full training is provided.  There are various shifts available from Monday to Saturday.  All profits from the shop go to support Home-Start’s work with families with young children in Aberdeen.

You can find out more about volunteering with Home-Start Aberdeen here:

https://www.homestartaberdeen.org.uk/volunteer/

 

Make a donation to help families affected by social isolation, bereavement, relationship problems, illness, disability and financial hardship.

On average it costs Home-Start Aberdeen £1,500 to support a family through the challenges they face until they can cope again.

https://www.homestartaberdeen.org.uk/donate/

 

Do your own activity or event and raise money for Home-Start Aberdeen

As we head into 2022 maybe you’re looking for a challenge to set yourself or ways to make a difference?

It could be a run, a walk, a cycle a quiz night, clothes swap or nominating them as your work’s charity of the year.  Everything helps!

If you’re interested and looking for some more information please reach out and talk to Karen Smith at fundraiser@homestartaberdeen.org.uk

 

How you can find out more?

To find out more visit the Home-Start Aberdeen website here www.homestartaberdeen.org.uk

Read Jamie’s story here: My Story – Jamie – Home-Start Aberdeen

 

It’s hard to believe that 2022 is just around the corner (where has the time gone?!)

There’s no better time to be thinking about what’s in store for your business next year and starting to set-out plans for the year ahead.

How much would you like to grow your business in the next 12 months? Do you have a marketing plan in place to help you achieve that?

If you’re feeling a little bit lost or overwhelmed we can help to provide some focus and together we can set out a marketing plan to help your business thrive.

Feel free to get in touch or book an appointment to discuss further – we’re ready to talk whenever you need us.

 

 

Inspired by the season of giving (but not just for Christmas) we are are going to be featuring and raising the profile of local charities from across Aberdeen City and Shire.

We’ll be featuring different charities each week on our social channels and website, helping to raise awareness of the diverse range of causes that so many charities are working so hard to support and how best individuals and organisations can support them right now.  First up is Aberdeen mental health charity, Cairns Counselling.

Charity Name: Cairns Counselling

What do they do and who do they support?

Cairns Counselling is an Aberdeen-based mental health charity that offers people a safe place to talk confidentially to a trained counsellor about the difficulties they are facing in their lives.

The charity offers counselling appointments free of charge to remove affordability as a barrier to accessing vital mental health and wellbeing support, so anyone who needs support can access it through Cairns Counselling.

It is their mission to give understanding, support, and compassion to adults in need across the Aberdeen area. Through the provision of counselling, they aim to encourage, empower, and enable clients to live more fulfilling lives.

The charity secured larger premises, at significant expense, just before the pandemic as part of a wider service expansion project, so Cairns Counselling could increase its counselling and support provision and be better positioned to respond to more referrals.

Since March 2020, the charity completely reconfigured its counselling service to a remote format, using telephone and video-conferencing technology to deliver vital mental health support during the pandemic.

Cairns Counselling’s face-to-face counselling service will begin to be reinstated in January 2022.

The waiting list for people awaiting counselling currently stands at 411 people in comparison to 261 people at the end of March 2020 when the pandemic hit and highlights the urgent need for Cairns Counselling to expand the capacity of its counselling service.

The charity will continue to offer and further develop remote mental health support via telephone and video conferencing alongside the charity’s face-to-face counselling service, which will offer more choice to clients and empower them to choose the counselling format that suits their personal needs and circumstances.

In the previous premises, the charity was offering around 5,000 counselling appointments annually and they have the capacity to increase counselling provision by 50% within our larger office premises, which will provide Cairns Counselling with the foundation to resume the service expansion project, which has been put on hold because of the pandemic, and substantially increase its service capacity.

The charity’s success will depend on securing additional funding to cover the increased running costs associated with the service expansion and the next 12 months are going to be considerably more challenging than last year due to the abundance of COVID funding no longer being available to subsidise the large reduction in donations and COVID-related constraints on income generation.

What positive impact does the charity make?

The charity makes a significant positive impact on the people it supports with 92% of clients saying that their mental health and well-being have been improved whilst 70% of clients say they feel better equipped to deal with future challenges.

 “I really enjoyed my sessions. They have helped me so much to get out of a dark place. I have come such a long way since my first appointment. Thank you”.

“My counselling has been incredibly positive and helpful, and a massive release of tension & anxiousness. Thank you so much”.

 

How can you help Cairns Counselling right now?

As an independent charitable organisation the charity relies on donations and the support of charitable Trusts & Foundations, corporations, and the public to raise enough funds to deliver the service.

The charity has seen a huge reduction in donations since the pandemic hit and urgently needs to raise funds to support the growing number of people who need help and to expand its service offering to meet this capacity.

The charity is running an online Crowdfunder fundraiser until 15^th December and you can help by donating online. They need to generate 25 donations and if they achieve that, all donations will be match-funded by the National Emergencies Trust, which will boost donations further.

Mental Health – Increasing Counselling Support – a Community crowdfunding project in Aberdeen by Susan Will (crowdfunder.co.uk)

 

How you can find out more:

To find out more visit Cairns Counselling’s website  https://cairnscounselling.org.uk/ or contact Suzi Will, the charity’s Funding Coordinator by email – funding@cairnscounselling.org.uk.