Our Charities Need Us NOW
Everyone who was signed up for the Glasgow Kiltwalk has until Tuesday March 31 at Midnight to get their fundraising in.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your incredible fundraising efforts these past few weeks and under such difficult circumstances. Our charities need us more than ever and YOUR fundraising will make all the difference.
Just over 24 hours of fundraising remains for Glasgow, so please join us in collecting as much as we can. Every penny makes a difference and with Sir Tom Hunter’s generous 50% top-up, YOUR fundraising will support many vulnerable groups during these unprecedented times.
Our charities continue to do great things within our Scottish communities, have a read through our latest charity updates.
Kidney Kids Scotland
Kidney Kids Scotland are doing everything we can to support our families during this crisis. Our main focus is always our families. Children who suffer from renal failure, a lifelong life-limiting conditions many of them have to have an in-hospital dialysis treatment called Haemodialysis. This is not an optional treatment but is lifesaving and has to take place 3-4 times per week at Glasgow Children's hospital. This is the only place in Scotland to perform this treatment. These children are all in the high-risk category and have to make the journey from all over Scotland and have no option but to be out in society. Our main focus is supporting these families any way we can at present.
The Kiltwalk and The Hunter Foundation has been an amazing support to Kidney Kids Scotland over the years. A 50% to up is truly amazing and really encourages our fundraisers to raise as much as they possibly can, thank you!
What difference would £100 make to Kidney Kids Scotland?
£100 at the moment would enable a mum travelling from Elgin and back with her young son who needs Haemodialysis to get a taxi in safe surroundings rather than having to use any form of public transport.
- Karen McFarlane, Manager, Kidney Kids Scotland
Marie Curie
March is usually the busiest time at Marie Curie but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, our fundraising activities are grinding to a halt and we’re facing a devastating loss of funds.
However, Marie Curie Nurses and frontline staff are still working hard to give vital support to dying people and their families, in their homes and in our Glasgow hospice. At this time of national emergency, these crucial services are needed more than ever as the NHS is put under ever greater strain.
Our Information and Support Line is open seven days a week for people with any questions or concerns about family and friends living with a terminal illness. Our local helper volunteers are calling patients and using technology to ensure that no one feels lonely or isolated. We are also working hard to introduce virtual day therapy and symptom management clinics through social media.
Thank you to our brilliant Kiltwalkers – we can’t wait to cheer you over a Kiltwalk finish line soon!
What difference would £100 make to Marie Curie?
£100 would enable us to provide four hours of bereavement counselling over the phone. Now more than ever, support is needed within the community for families to have a safe space to talk.
Holly Draper, Fundraising Product Manager, Marie Curie
The Not Forgotten
The Not Forgotten will ensure our Armed Forces family who are isolated, lonely and vulnerable are not forgotten, nor allowed to languish over the difficult weeks ahead.
We will implement a telephone roster, so that we can communicate with our beneficiaries letting them know that whatever challenges are ahead, they will not be facing them alone.
We have set up a Facebook support group, Caring Comrades, encouraging members to support those who need help.
We have set up a social media show, providing a twice weekly one-hour entertainment programme to lift the spirits of those living in Scottish Care Homes.
What difference would £100 make to The Not Forgotten?
It would enable us to contact 100 vulnerable beneficiaries to assure them that they have not been forgotten. We will help them through these difficult weeks.
- Lisa Brooker, Fundraising Coordinator, The Not Forgotten
St. Margaret’s
Here at St. Margaret’s we are working hard to best support our families. We are continuing to operate innovatively via online platforms to best support our children, young people, their parents and our prospective adopters. Being there for our families is our number one priority and we will do all that we can to continue to provide them with the support that they deserve.
We are so thankful for those who are fundraising and taking part in the Kiltwalk on our behalf, your dedication and generosity ensures that our extended post-adoption service can continue, meaning our children and Young People post placement can receive much needed St. Margaret’s services, whether that be 1-2-1 support, attending our CONNECT Group (Youth Group) or being able to access support for the whole family.
What difference would £100 make to St. Margaret’s?
As a small charity any donations will allow us to continue to offer our services and will give us the privilege to continue to find forever families for the many children waiting on their new mummy and daddy!
- Melissa Muir, Adoption Support Worker, St Margaret's
The Yard Scotland
We have all been working hard at The Yard to try and adjust our services and make sure that we can continue to help our children and families through this time. Our playteam are working hard to bring new resources and play ideas to share with disabled children and their families at home.
What difference would £100 make to The Yard Scotland?
£100 would mean a great deal to us right now and would allow us the capacity to look at how we can support our families more during this difficult time. This could be through posting play ideas to families who don't have access to the internet or using video technology to phone our young people to make sure they are not feeling isolated.
- Christy Thomson, Community and Volunteering Officer, The Yard Scotland
SUDEP Action
We know that many of our beneficiaries and supporters will be impacted by the coronavirus (COVID -19) over the coming days, weeks and months. However this crisis affects people, bereaved by or living with epilepsy, SUDEP Action will continue to be by the side of those who need us: our Prevent21 community of bereaved families; people with epilepsy who are working to minimise their risk; and our clinical and research champions who are working on the NHS frontline.
SUDEP Action will continue to be here providing free, confidential support by phone because we want to ensure that people who need someone to talk to, can reach out to someone who understands.
Fundraising for the Kiltwalk and the 50% top-up are vital and will help SUDEP Action to carry on delivering our vital services. For those planning to take part in the Kiltwalk in 2020, SUDEP Action is incredibly grateful, to you, those sponsoring you and for the 50% top-up. Because of you we will together continue to be by the side of those who need us, at this time and in the future.
What difference would £100 make to SUDEP Action?
£100 means that support calls can be made for at least 5 people who are struggling to cope.
- Jane Hanna OBE, CEO SUDEP Action
SiMBA
During this difficult time, we are keeping in regular contact with our Kiltwalkers, via phone calls, emails and WhatsApp communications - offering our help and suggesting our support group services (closed Facebook Groups and new Zoom Virtual Support Groups) should they wish to participate via face-to-face interactions or just voice calls. Also offering advice and support and keeping them up to speed with all communications relevant for SiMBA as well as keeping them up to date with all the information about their Kiltwalk, and fundraising deadlines.
Our charity supports families at the most difficult time in their lives, often hearing about SiMBA for the first time when they receive a Memory Box after losing their baby. We gift Memory Boxes to 68 Hospital Units across Scotland – supplying our Memory Boxes to all Glasgow and Paisley Hospitals. We also provide ongoing support in other ways; Online and at Support Groups. We also fundraise for Family Room Refurbishments and are currently in middle of a campaign to refurbish Family Rooms at the Royal Alexandra Neonatal Unit in Paisley.
The Kiltwalk is fantastic for a small charity like ours – as well as providing vital funds for our services, it also helps us to raise awareness so that more families, who need it, can benefit from what we do. We thank you sincerely for your Kiltwalk Kindness and all that you do to help make a difference to bereaved families.
What difference would £100 make to SiMBA?
Your Kiltwalk Kindness will help us to cover the cost of our memory boxes e.g., we’re getting more and more request from individual families, and also hospitals, for our small memory boxes which acknowledge a tiny baby under 14 weeks gestation. £10 allows us to gift one of these boxes, so £100 would help 10 families who have lost a precious baby to miscarriage.
- SiMBA CEO, Sara Fitzsimmons, MBE
Healthy n Happy
We have formed Camglen Covid Support Group and are co-ordinating with local politicians, agencies and community organisations across Cambuslang and Rutherglen, to ensure local residents and communities get all the help they need during these difficult times. We have created 4 community response ‘hubs’ across Camglen and we are developing a rapid action plan based on what is needed and where.
In these times of uncertainty, we’re certain of one thing - that there are lots of good people out there with great community spirit and we all really need that right now. What this fundraising and Kiltwalk Kindness helps us to do is harness and co-ordinate that community spirit and direct it as quickly as possible to those who are most vulnerable and in need of support
What difference would £100 make to Healthy n Happy?
In line with the above, every penny counts just now and these funds will really help to provide essential support to people who need it most during these difficult times, in our Cambuslang and Rutherglen communities.
Lesley McGinty, Marketing & Communications Officer
Alzheimer Scotland
“Alzheimer Scotland is committed to ensuring that people living with dementia, their families and carers, continue to be supported throughout the coronavirus pandemic. As well as increasing our 24-Hour Freephone Dementia Helpline team, we are working quickly to adapt new and diverse ways of working to support people living with dementia in our local communities. In these extremely difficult times, news that the Kiltwalk will provide a 50% top up on individual Kiltwalkers fundraising will help us continue to make sure nobody faces dementia alone in Scotland.”
What difference would £100 make to Alzheimer Scotland?
"A donation of £100 can help 10 volunteers provide an hour each of support via Alzheimer Scotland’s 24-hour Freephone Dementia Helpline (0808 808 3000). The Helpline provides information and emotional support to people living with dementia and their families. Available 24-hours a day every day, 365 days a year, and is there for anyone who needs to talk about dementia during these worrying times."
- Sa Craig, Head of Corporate Partnerships and Events from Alzheimer Scotland, Alzheimer Scotland
Everyone signed up for the Glasgow Kiltwalk still has time to make a difference! It isn't too late to get signed up and raise funds for your chosen charity.
ALL FUNDRAISING GOES TO THE CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE
Thank you for your Kiltwalk Kindness.
