100% OF YOUR DONATION WILL GO DIRECTLY TO A FAMILY IN NEED
Watch our short film to hear from some of the children your donations help, and find out why we need your help more than ever.
This winter, 3,000 children across Yorkshire have already been identified as being in critical need of essential winter items, and we expect that number to grow.
For children living in poverty and destitution, something as simple as a warm coat, a pair of shoes, clean pyjamas or a warm bed can make an enormous difference.
Our winter campaign provides vital winter essentials to children who need them most, including coats, shoes, toiletries, pyjamas and bedding. Our goal is simple: to help every child arrive at school feeling warm, dry, comfortable and ready to learn.
But we can’t do it alone.
We urgently need to raise £142,000 to make sure we can reach every child who needs our help and go the extra mile for families facing hardship this winter.
Your donation can help put warmth, comfort and dignity within reach of a child who might otherwise go without.
Together, we can help children across Yorkshire face winter with the essentials they need, just £16 will pay for a child’s coat so they don’t arrive at school wet and cold.
Please donate today and help us keep children across Yorkshire Warm, Dry & Ready to Learn this winter.
£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
£16
Will mean a child doesn’t walk to school wet and cold this winter
£20
Can give a child a coat, hat, scarf, and gloves to keep them cosy when playing outside
£27
Will provide a child with a duvet, bedding, and pyjamas for a good night’s sleep
£50
Can give a child the basics they need to arrive at school warm, dry and ready to learn this winter.
Warm, Dry and Ready to Learn
Poverty is now one of the biggest barriers to education for children across Yorkshire, and as we approach winter, the problem worsens.
Each year the demand for support with winter essentials grows.
1 in 3 children in Yorkshire live in poverty.
Our winter essential 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.
'One family did not have correct footwear or coats. On a rainy day they did not attend school... now they are in breakfast club from 8am'
Teacher who applied on behalf of their students for Winter Support in 2025.
2025 Impact
98%
of schools said the campaign helped identify and support vulnerable families
62%
of schools said the campaign helped them to improve family engagement
82%
of schools described the impact as ‘significant’
“The programme enhances pupils’ attendance, confidence, and sense of belonging, while simultaneously strengthening family-school relationships.”
Independent University of Leeds study on the impact of our 2025 Winter Support Campaign
In 2025, we supported 2,373 children and young people through this campaign. Of these:
98%
didn’t have a coat
94%
didn’t have appropriate footwear
84%
didn’t have bedding
Each year we receive more and more applications from families in need, 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
We’re expecting to see a 25% increase in the demand for support by the end of our winter essentials campaign this year. That’s an additional 627 requests for help with the essentials every child in Yorkshire should have.
38% of the families we support 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 CHILDREN 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 2026 - IN ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, SHOULD NOT EXIST.
Last year’s 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
