KidsOut Donation for Christmas Boxes 2020

KidsOut is The Fun & Happiness Charity for disadvantaged children. In normal times, the Rotary Club of Cambridge supports their annual National Rotary KidsOut Day. We provide some funding and several of our members act as stewards at the local event on the day.

The National KidsOut Day has not been possible in 2020, so we have arranged a donation of £1125, spread between three of the Cambridge Rotary Clubs: Cambridge, Cambridge South and Cambridge Sawston. This will be enough to give a present of a box of toys to all the children (currently 45) living in the Cambridge Women's Refuge at Christmas 2020

We have received this message from the organisers:

On behalf of us all at KidsOut, I would like to say a huge thank you for the £1125 donation, to go towards the Rotary Christmas Toy Box Initiative this year. This is a wonderful contribution and I would ask you to pass on our sincere thanks to all those involved for their generosity and support.

Christmas is always tough for families in refuge, with this year set to be harder than usual. Most children arrive at refuge with only the clothes on their back, restricted to a single room with their mother and siblings. Mothers struggle to provide basic essentials, let alone toys for their children at Christmas. With 78% of families in refuge with no access to a TV, you can only imagine the difference these toys will make. As an aside, KidsOut has also provided 1300 families who have no access to a food bank or the school voucher scheme with a £25 supermarket voucher for Christmas. We have also sent out 7500 goodie bags for disadvantaged children.

The Rotary Christmas Toy Boxes will provide children in refuge with brand-new toys to support mental health and make the world a little kinder. The toys are given to the mother so that she can provide the toys from Santa and not from the charity. This is so important for the mother’s self-esteem at such a distressing time.

“Refuge life can be difficult, especially for families, and the added pressure for parents to ensure their children have presents to open on Christmas morning causes a lot of stress and upset for our mums – especially if finances are tight. However, your toys mean we can provide our amazing families with the opportunity to have a lovely Christmas Day… please know your toys will be put towards making a child smile this Christmas.” – Refuge support worker

KidsOut was started by Rotary and is run by Rotarians – our aim is to bring a bit of fun and happiness into the lives of disadvantaged children. We believe every child deserves to build happy memories. If you would like further details on what we do, please visit our web page www.kidsout.org.uk