The Christmas Challenge 2017 Video Wall
Watch these videos to see some of the inspiring charity projects that were part of the Christmas Challenge 2017.
Small Steps Project
Aurora Orchestra
The Reader
Alternatives Trust East London
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Support UK
Clean Break
Nottingham Arimathea Trust
Jamie’s Farm
Brass for Africa
Small Steps Project
Charity Name: Small Steps Project
Christmas Challenge Champion: The Coles-Medlock Foundation
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: Support for children scavenging on landfill sites
Scavenger communities inhabit rubbish dumps and landfill sites around the world. Small Steps Project supports children and their families with sustainable solutions to help the children into education and vocational training for their parents so they have the skills to improve their future prospects. Funds raised through the Christmas Challenge 2017 are being used to build a hygiene and sanitation unit on a Laos dump with toilets and showers.
Total raised: £26,599
Aurora Orchestra
Charity Name: Aurora Orchestra
Christmas Challenge Champion: Four Acre Trust
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: We’re going to a concert!
Every child has the right to enjoy music. But many children don’t have the chance to experience live music, because of social or economic reasons or a disability. We want to offer storytelling concerts and interactive performances for schools, and for children with special educational needs.
Total raised: £44,105
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The Reader
Charity Name: The Reader
Christmas Challenge Champion: CHK Charities Limited
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: Care Homes – literature gives older people a voice
The Reader will train & support volunteers to read and connect with lonely older people in UK care homes and community settings. Shared Reading is a fun weekly activity that builds communities, improves well-being, reduces social isolation and, importantly, gives a voice to people who need it most
Total raised: £45,881
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Alternatives Trust East London
Charity Name: Alternatives Trust East London
Christmas Challenge Champion: The Childhood Trust
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: We Are Family
To holistically support very vulnerable parents and children through We Are Family support group delivering parenting and life skills teaching, plus counselling, advocacy, and practical help enabling them to move forwards into employment and manage their own families.
Total raised: £19,156
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Support UK
Charity Name: Spinal Muscular Atrophy Support UK
Christmas Challenge Champion: Candis
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: Supporting Families Affected by Spinal Muscular Atrophy
A diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy can be devastating. Many families have not heard of the condition & require practical and emotional support to deal with what the future holds. We provide this free support to everyone who would like it.
Total raised: £13,623
Clean Break
Charity Name: Clean Break
Christmas Challenge Champion: CHK Charities Limited
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: Using the arts to build positive futures
With your support, together we can build brighter futures for women with lived experience of the criminal justice system. By creating a new dynamic programme of theatre making and creative learning, women will develop the skills, confidence and resilience to transform their lives.
Total raised: £31,801
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Nottingham Arimathea Trust
Charity Name: Nottingham Arimathea Trust
Christmas Challenge Champion: The Human Rights Fund
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: Expanding Housing for Destitute Asylum Seekers
We seek to reduce homelessness of asylum seekers who need to present further evidence of their persecution to the UK authorities. Without our support, our residents would be sofa surfing or street homeless. Without a safe space our residents would find it very difficult to access the legal support and health services they need to enable them to move their cases forward. Regular support is provided by staff and student social workers.
Total raised: £13,726
Jamie’s Farm
Charity Name: Jamie’s Farm
Christmas Challenge Champion: The Childhood Trust
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: Farming, Family & Therapy
Our powerful mix of Farming, Family & Therapy is equipping vulnerable children to thrive in school and see their futures differently. Children come to our rural farms near Bath, Hereford and Monmouth to live, work, play and grow, and our therapeutic approach is woven into everything that they do.
Total raised: £109,256
Brass for Africa
Charity Name: Brass for Africa
Christmas Challenge Champion: The Reed Foundation (International)
Christmas Challenge 2017 Project: The Children of Kampiringisa
Kampiringisa is Uganda’s only juvenile rehabilitation facility, housing vulnerable street children alongside youth “at conflict with the law”. Brass for Africa provides music education, life skills training and psychosocial support to more than 200 children and young people every week.
Total raised: £25,419