It’s the final day of Scottish Children’s Health Week 2022! We hope everyone has had fun with #SCHW22 Activity Book and learned more throughout the week about the services and help that Children’s Health Scotland provides every day.
Our aim for this week was to once again bring a week of activity that people of all ages and abilities can get involved with, have fun, and learn something new. That is why for the past three years, we have created an activity book with a weeks’ worth of ideas to help everyone Be Active, Brave, Calm, Happy, Friendly, Kind and Helpful.
The SCHW 2022 Activity Book has three special ideas to try, which include helping those who have previously helped you, spending time with someone who may be left out, and giving a helping hand to the environment. Our friends at the See Me, a mental health charity dedicated to ending stigma, showcased “What’s on your Mind?” This activity is a simple and accessible way for anyone to talk about how they are feeling. It involves colouring in different bubbles filled with emotion words. The colours reflect how the word makes you feel. You can then use these words to speak to others about how you feel. Lots of people of all ages have trouble expressing their feelings, so we hope this has helped young people who struggle with this.
For #BeHelpful Sunday, we would like to celebrate our Fundraising service, which actually means we will be celebrating YOU – our supporters. Children’s Health Scotland would not be able to do what we do without the generous help of those who support our mission. That is why today, we will be spotlighting six recent fundraisers from the past year alone whose efforts we are incredibly grateful for.
Esther Bates, Marketing and Fundraising Assistant for Children’s Health Scotland, said: “From running our Self-Management Service Programmes, we were regularly approached by children and young people who participated in the programmes who were so grateful for our support that they wanted to return the favour in some way. That’s what inspired us to created this Fabulously Fun Fundraising Pack with children and young people in mind. The ideas of the pack tie in with our Scottish Children’s Health Week daily themes, so there is something for everyone.”
#BeActive – Dance Performances
A huge THANK YOU and WELL DONE to all the fabulous dancers at Sunday’s Show, their families and friends for supporting Children’s Health Scotland by buying programmes. They raised the fabulous sum of £362.70!
We want to say a very special thank you to Miss Margaret and Miss Marianne of the Margaret Gilbride & Marianne Crawley School Of Dance for supporting us with all your performances over the past 20+ years.
#BeBrave – Lucy
Lucy Walker raised an enormous £6,000 to fund our work to support children and young people with long-term health conditions. Lucy (16 years old), who lives in East Lothian, organised a fun-filled fundraising event last year at Ormiston Bowling Club. Lucy worked hard on preparing for the fundraiser and was gifted some fantastic auction prizes.
Lucy has first-hand experience of one of the self-management services we provide. Commenting on the fundraiser, Lucy said: “I gained so much from taking part in the SMS:CONNECT Programme – from learning about my health rights to how to cope when feeling stressed or anxious. I was so inspired by their work that I organised a fundraiser at my local bowling club to raise much needed funds to support their work.”
#BeCalm – Debbie
Debbie Stevenson, who raised £460 for Children’s Health Scotland with her #ShowYerCap fundraiser.
“I ask you to put a shower cap on, wear it anywhere and take a selfie. Tag me and #showyercap, tag five other people and pay £5. That’s all there is to it!”
Debbie’s idea was a silly bit of fun that everyone enjoyed getting involved in. The £460 which Debbie raised was used to buy therapeutic books and calming toys for the children and young people on our Self-Management Service programmes.
#BeHappy – Soroptimists
Earlier in the year, Dagmar Kerr and Eilidh Findlay gave a presentation to the Kirkintilloch Soroptimists group on Children’s Health Scotland and the work we do.
Soroptimists operate in their local communities to raise money for charity and promote issues facing women and girls. Being a Soroptimist gives a woman the opportunity to participate in local, national and international projects to benefit women and girls.
Soroptimist International of Kirkintilloch is part of a worldwide organisation of women, which is linked to the United Nations. The women of this group managed to raise £200 for Children’s Health Scotland in response to the presentation given by Eilidh and Dagmar. The women in the group recollected on their own experiences of hospitals and doctors during the presentation and we discussed how things have changed over the years in terms of children’s healthcare rights.
#BeFriendly – Facebook fundraising
One Facebook fundraiser who we would like to thank is Rebecca Caroline, who raised a fantastic £140 for Children’s Health Scotland in her Facebook birthday fundraiser. Seven of her friends donated to her fundraiser in January 2022, beating her initial £100 target. £140 can go towards four Home Pack full of resources, a therapeutic toy and a book for four children who we support. Thank you so much to Rebecca and friends for making a difference.
If you’ve been inspired by Rebecca’s fundraiser, then consider creating your own. You can create a Facebook birthday fundraiser when your birthday is coming up as a way to let friends and family celebrate with you. You can also support us on Facebook at any time by creating a charity or personal fundraiser. Facebook does not charge fees for donations to charities so every penny you donate will directly help us.
#BeKind – Business events
We are always amazed to see what people can achieve when they come together for a good cause. Earlier this year, we received two kind donations from two kind businesses.
Schroders Personal Wealth raised £320 through some friendly competition by creating in a steps challenge and running a marathon:
“Five teams will go head to head to complete as much steps as we can over the next 4 weeks. We will walk, run and jog to help fundraise for Children’s Health Scotland. On top of this challenge, three of our colleagues Meghan McPartlane, Emma Stonebridge and Stuart Wright will also take part in the Donegal Wild Atlantic Marathon. Traveling from Scotland to Kellybegs in Ireland to complete the Marathon on 12th June 2022.”
Clansman Dynamics continued this generosity by donating £728.65 to Children’s Health Scotland. The kindness of business is so amazing because it involves a lot of people coming together to do their bit!
THANK YOU to everyone above for their generosity and hard work!
If you have been inspired to #BeHelpful for Children’s Health Scotland, please visit our Fundraising Pages and School Fundraising Pack for help.
If you would like to get involved in next year’s Scottish Children’s Health Week, please email enquiries@childrenshealthscotland.org to register your interest. We would also be happy to recieve any feedback you have on this year’s Scottish Children’s Health Week to the same address.
