Save the children

I'm a member of Stirling University's Save the Children Society so I thought I'd blog a little about it.  Since I appear to have quite a few people reading my blog I figured it might be good to try and raise some awareness of what Save The Children do.

I feel that when most people hear 'Save the Children' they think starving children in Africa but Save The Children are concerned with children all over the world, including the UK.

(Stirling University's Save the Children Society)

It was Save the Children who were responsible for the UK Government implementing free meals and milk in schools in the 1940's.  The poorest children in the UK still benefit from this today.

We raise money so that thousands of children can be reunited with their families following disasters every year.  The family tracing system has helped reunite 45,000 children with their families after the Rwandan genocide in the 1994.

It is not only children in poverty or who have been effected by disaster that we seek to help we also help children with disabilities.  Save the Children pioneer new ways to educate disabled children that have enabled millions to go to school for the first time.  Disabled children have exactly the same rights as other children.

For every pound donated 86p goes towards helping and saving children.  The other remaining 14p we use so we can go out and raise another £1.

(We organised a fashion show to raise funds and awareness)

The money raised in general goes towards helping children survive and live happy lives.  Nearly 9 million children in the world wont live to see past their 5th birthday...this year.  The money goes towards things that can be taken for granted such as vaccinations, mosquito nets and food.

Save the Children are campaigning to help countries like Liberia and Sierra Leon make health care free.  We need your help to tell governments that health care fees cost lives.

For some families in the UK the choice between food or heating needs to be made.  We are one of the richest countries in the world and 1.7 million of our children live in severe poverty.  We are campaigning to make sure our politicians live up to their promises to get rid of child poverty by 2020.

Without people's help Save the Children cannot do what they set out to do.  We need your money, your time, your skills, your voice.

You can help through simply supporting Save the Children through donations or you can physically help through getting involved. If you want to find out more go to Savethechildren.org.uk or call 02070126400.

Spending your time doing something that you know is helping those that in dire help is very rewarding, even if it is just a little.  You have the choice between helping and not helping.  It doesn't have to drastically affect your life, you could decide to donate your spare change.  All the change we collect quickly adds up.  After the Tsunami in Japan I raised £50 in two hours by just asking people to donate money.

(Society ball)