CHRISTMAS APPEAL
If you pay UK income or capital gains tax, you can increase your donation by 28%. When going through the donation process tick the Gift Aid declaration which will ensure your donation is increased by 28%.
SolarAid
Power to the people
Two of the biggest threats facing humanity today are climate change and global poverty. SolarAid helps to combat both, simply by bringing clean, renewable power to the poorest people in the world.
Fighting poverty
Right now, two billion people have no access to electricity. They rely on burning fuels such as kerosene and wood for light and heat, which is highly toxic and expensive. Having solar power improves people's health, income and education. That's because solar power can enable poor people to cook food, pump clean water, run fridges, light homes, schools and hospitals, farm more effectively, and much more.
Fighting climate change
Climate change is mainly due to the massive and continuing use of burning fossil fuels for energy. This has pumped vast amounts of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. At the same time, we have destroyed vast tracts of forest, which has released billions of tonnes of carbon.
By replacing carbon-emitting products with solar power, and reducing our dependency on burning wood and fossil fuels, we can alleviate global warming.
The Place2Be
The Place2Be was established in 1994 in response to increasing concern about the extent and depth of emotional and behavioural difficulties displayed in classrooms and playgrounds.
The Place2Be works inside schools to help improve the emotional wellbeing of children, their families and the whole school community. By giving children the chance to explore their problems through talking, creative work and play, The Place2Be enables children to cope now and make better-informed decisions about their lives and help prevent more serious mental health and behavioural problems in later life. Children who can resolve their emotional difficulties find it easier to learn and so their educational chances are much enhanced. Parents who are equipped to tackle their own issues are able to form more positive relationships with their children. The result is happier children with better prospects and that benefits everyone.
The Place2Be offers school-based counseling services to children and their parents or carers, accredited training to school staff, and professional qualifications for those who wish to become child counsellors. The charity is currently working with 155 schools across the UK, supporting a child population of over 51,000 - often in areas of great deprivation – helping children with problems such as bereavement, family breakdown, domestic violence, trauma and bullying. By 2017 we hope to reach 150,000 children across 25 areas, helping children to grow up with prospects not problems. And the cost savings to society are huge. It costs £94 per year to provide The Place2Be service to children in schools. If we can save just one child from being excluded in each school where we currently work the savings could amount to over £9million.
Zurich Community Trust - a registered charity funded by Zurich - is generously matching pound for pound the first £100,000 donated by Times' readers to The Place2Be
Fine Cell Work
Fine Cell Work is a social enterprise which trains prison inmates to do professional embroidery when they are locked in their cells. The inmates do exquisite needlework for an average of 30 hours a week and the occupation gives them focus, discipline and self worth.
There are currently more than 84,000 people in prison who spend up to 23 hours a day locked in their cells with nothing to do. Over 70% suffer from mental disorders and more than half of them are illiterate. Half of male and three quarters of female prisoners have no qualifications whatsoever and levels of self-harm are extremely high. Current re-offending rates are no less than 47%.
Yet it has been shown that work programs providing real challenges and incentives in prison reduce re-offending by 50%. As one prisoner said, " I usually spend about two to three hours an evening doing tapestry work. It helps you realize there are alternatives to committing crime."
Fine Cell Work gives prisoners the chance to rebuild themselves through learning a creative skill and working to professional standards in their cells. There is an average of 150 hours of work in any one of our embroidered cushions. For this the prisoners are paid little - but the rewards are very great. The earnings give them hope, skill and independence, and many express personal satisfaction in being able to make a contribution through their efforts.
