100% OF YOUR DONATION WILL GO DIRECTLY TO A FAMILY IN NEED
We need to raise £114,000 to keep children in Yorkshire warm this winter
This year, we have identified 2,373 children in critical need of help this winter – but we can’t do it without you! We have an overall funding shortfall of £114,000 to ensure we can go the extra mile.
Make a donation - help make sure children are 'warm, dry & ready to learn' this winter.
If we are to go the extra mile, we have an overall funding shortfall of £114,000. We can only reach this with your help!
£4
Donating the cost of your morning coffee could provide a hat and glove set for a child who will otherwise be cold
£8
Can make the difference between wet socks and warm feet
£14
Will mean a child doesn’t walk to school wet and cold this winter
£18
Will make sure a child doesn’t sleep on a bed without a duvet
£50
Can give a child the basics they need to arrive at school warm, dry and ready to learn this winter.
£60
Will keep the magic of the festive season alive for children who, without our intervention, will receive nothing on Christmas morning
Phase One
Poverty is now one of the biggest barriers to education for children across Yorkshire – and as we approach winter, the problem worsens. The first phase of this campaign ensures children have their immediate needs met to arrive at school warm, dry and ready to learn. From a warm winter coat and school shoes to toiletries and bedding, each item goes to a child who is deemed to be living in destitution.
I can't believe that people who don't even know us would do this for us - it's made the difference between my family going under or not.'
Parent, recipient of Winter Support Campaign 2024
Phase Two
For so many of the families we support, the magic of Christmas is non-existent. Phase two of the campaign supports children living in destitution by ensuring those who would otherwise receive nothing have their Christmas wish lists fulfilled.
Parents are given the chance to choose and wrap the gifts, helping them feel part of their child’s happiness and preserving their dignity. Teachers play a key role by referring children in need, often delivering the gifts themselves to parents, which helps build trust, strengthen relationships, and identify any additional support families may require.
This phase is about far more than presents – it’s about care, safeguarding, and restoring a sense of joy at Christmas.
'Santa isn't real, even when I'm really good he still doesn't visit my house'
Christmas Party Pupil
'At a time when I had very little control in my life, and decisions were being made for me, to be able to choose the gifts I knew my children desperately wanted and to be able to wrap those gifts myself, made me feel like a good mum again.'
Parent, recipient of Christmas campaign 2024
2024 Impact
80%
of schools reported an increase in attendance
100%
of schools said support helped to alleviate stress for parents and carers
84%
of schools have seen an improvement in children’s confidence
98%
of schools reported that children are now able to arrive at school ‘warm, dry and ready to learn’
Each year we receive more and more applications from families in need (demand has grown over 700% in just three years), and the impact speaks for itself.
Simply by providing shoes and coats, schools are telling us that “the positive knock on effect seems to be endless, children feel more confident because they are warm and look good, parents feel like “better” parents because their children are warm and look nice, teachers are happy as certain children are warm and attending school.”
The children we are supporting this year
38% of the families we’re supporting are working parents. They are doing everything “right” – holding down jobs, sending their children to school – and yet, the cost of living is so high, their best just simply isn’t enough.
Families who have never asked for help before are now turning to us because their income doesn’t stretch far enough. They’re skipping meals so their children can eat. Choosing between heat and hygiene.
Real Children - Real Stories
Me and my sister share these shoes. Today it’s my turn to go to school.
Last year, we received an application from a mum struggling to afford clothing for her two daughters. The sisters were sharing one pair of shoes – taking turns to attend school. Requests like this highlight the barriers poverty places on attendance and education.
I have to walk really far to school, and my shoes hurt my feet.
One application told us about a child who walked a long distance to school in shoes that were one-and-a-half sizes too small. Many of the families we help live far from school or are frequently forced to move – and essentials like school shoes wear out fast. Walking with sore feet shouldn’t be part of any child’s school day.
I don’t have a coat, so I sometimes wear my pyjamas under my uniform to stay warm.
Our winter support campaign exists because time and again we were receiving ‘Helping Hand for Families’ applications for basic clothing essentials, requests that always got more extreme during the winter. As a charity, we spotted a broader issue that needed immediate attention. This year, 98% of children we received applications for needed a coat.
School let me take food home for my brother.
At one of our Schools Out trips, a 7-year-old girl nervously asked if she could take home leftover cheese sandwiches. We later discovered she routinely saved part of her school lunch to feed her younger siblings. It was her first time on a school trip, and while most children were excited, she was worried – because if she wasn’t at school, how would her brother eat that night?
I love school, but sometimes I’m really tired I don’t sleep very well because my bed is so itchy.
84% of families we support need basic bedding. One family we’re supporting had to throw out all of their bedding after a bed bug infestation. They were already working with social care to overcome serious challenges, and now their children are sleeping directly on worn mattresses.
We go to grandmas on a Friday for a bath. I love Fridays.
54% of families we support struggle to afford basic toiletries. One large family we’re supporting has no working washing machine, and no hot water. The children often arrive at school in dirty, smelly clothes, which has led to bullying. Almost three million children are believed to be experiencing hygiene poverty in the UK, with increasing numbers of pupils missing school due to dirty uniforms and bullying.
SUPPORTING THOSE LIVING IN DESTITUTION
As a small charity, we cannot boil the ocean. With this in mind, we only support those children who are deemed to be living in destitution.
Which, by definition, is when in a month: a child has slept rough for one of more nights; they have had fewer than two meals a day; their home has had no heating or lighting for five or more days in a month; they have inappropriate clothing or footwear, and they don’t have access to basic toiletries.
SHINING A LIGHT ON CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCES OF POVERTY IN 2025 - IN ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, SHOULD NOT EXIST.
The recent Children’s Commissioner report has echoed everything that we have been saying out loud, and seeing, for years. Children are living in ‘almost Dickensian levels of poverty’.
We urge everyone to read and share the report. As adults, we have a duty of care – and for many children, we are the only people they can rely on.
Read the full report here.
Thank you for your support
