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RADIO charity Cash For Kids provides essential funding for families in poverty throughout the year – and their work is especially important at Christmas time.
In July 2022, the End Child Poverty Coalition released a report to say that figures taken from 2020/21 meant that nearly 14,000 children from around Ayrshire were now living in poverty. The current cost-of-living crisis could also affect this number in the future.
Bauer Media non-profit charity Cash For Kids has been in operation since 1997. Without their hard work and fundraising, poverty-stricken families in local communities, who are unable to afford Christmas, could face a miserable time over the festive period.
In the ‘Mission Christmas’ fundraising and awareness campaign this year, Cash For Kids hope to achieve ‘Christmas for every child’. As part of this, they have gift donation ‘drop-off’ centresacross the country and a variety of local events such as ‘Cash for Kids Christmas lunch’ and ‘Christmas jumper day’.
West FM & Westsound Cash For Kids offer funding to support families below the breadline in Ayrshire. Rebecca ‘Bex’ Johnson, Corporate and Community fundraiser for the area, said: “For a lot of families, the choice is heat or eat. Families can apply for a basic essentials shopping voucher through community groups, such as a sport or dance group that a child would attend.”
Bex also talked about the success of last week’s West FM Cash for Kids Christmas Lunch, held on December 9 at Ayr Racecourse.
She said: “Just over £71,000 was raised. Peter Andre was there, it was good fun, he was brilliant!”.
Bex then spoke about the importance of continued funding, so that the charity is able to keep supporting the families in need.
She said: “Any donation makes a difference. If a pound is donated, the whole pound goes out to help families in Ayrshire. We’re very lucky that all our costs are covered in other ways”.
For any donations Bex can be contacted on 01292 270508.
As well as her Cash For Kids work, Bex is also involved in the Ayrshire small theatre community. She will be teaming up with comedian and West FM breakfast DJ Billy Kirkwood this weekend for the Billy and Bex Christmas show. Fun for all the family can be had at 1pm on December 17 and 18 at St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats.
The Cash for Kids Christmas jumper day is today (December 16), where lots of business establishments will be looking out their Christmas jumpers for a fun day of fundraising.
Specsavers in Saltcoats have taken this a bit further in their fundraising incentive, where all the staff are wearing Christmas jumpers for the full month of December!
Store manager Lynn Johnson said: “We realise businesses locally rely on the local community for their success. This is a chance to pay it forward and for local businesses to support community families. The money raised helps people, who might even be neighbours.”
