Children In Need

Who was helped in 2009?

As in every other year, we sometimes forget amid all the fun, that there are millions of your pounds being carefully spent on our behalf to help children all over the country, and in Staffordshire too of course.

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Carers

It's strange to think that, among the thousands of people caring for the disadvantaged in our society, many are children.

Aimee and brother Adam

One of those is 12 year old Aimee Walker from Norton in Stoke on Trent who helps her mum Sharron care for younger brother Adam, who has behavioural difficulties. But that means she has very little opportunity to do her own thing - like going out with friends. So she relies on the help of the North Staffordshire Carers Association which runs a group to help young carers get away from it all for one evening a month.

Aimee and her mum Sharron told BBC Radio Stoke what that means to their family:-

Ninety-three thousand pounds of Children in Need money's gone towards keeping the group running over three years.
Website: http://www.carersfirst.com/

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Some of the children who've escaped conflicts in other countries to start a new life in our part of the world benefit from CiN. In 2009, twenty-two thousand pounds of Pudsey appeal money went to one Stoke-on-Trent charity which helps African refugee families from places like eastern Congo, Zimbabwe and Uganda settle here...

Godfrey Seminega is a Rwandan refugee, who helped to set up the African Social Health Agency back in 2005. And he told BBC Radio Stoke how much of a difference the Children in Need money makes:

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One of the lucky organisations is the YMCA in Crewe, where Children In Need money is being used to fund a gym for young people who are homeless.
BBC Radio Stoke's South Cheshire reporter Beccy Wood went to the gym to see exactly how the cash had been spent:

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Women's Aid in Stafford have been given a three year grant to employ a "Play Worker", who works with the children whose mothers are the victims of domestic violence. The aim is to try to get the kids to talk about their experiences through one-to-one and group sessions.
The workers also help the parents find their feet again looking for things like nursery and school places, as well as working with the NHS.
Dickie Chester James explained to us how C-in-N helps:-

Among other projects, there is ARCH, a local charity that provides accommodation to people who are homeless or in need of help. They run Elizabeth House in Newcastle under Lyme, which gives shelter and support to abused women and their children. See: www.archnorthstaffs.org.uk
For over 10 years, BBC Children in Need has funded staff at Elizabeth House.

To find out the full list of charities in Staffordshire and Cheshire benefiting from Children In Need this year, click on the link below