2021: A Year in Review

Providing dignity and comfort when it is needed most.

Welcome to this round up of what we’ve been up to in 2021! The charity has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past year and we wanted to give you an update on what we’ve been doing. We are really grateful for your interest, and encourage you to keep an eye on our website as we intend to produce regular updates from here on in!

Caring Kits for Kids- it’s official!

Caring Kits for Kids as an idea began in 2018 with Dr Gayle Hann and her team, but it was only in January of last year that its ambitions for charitable status were brought to fruition. Over the course of the next 12 months, following registration with the Charity Commision, the reach and scope of the project began to increase enormously. The launch of our JustGiving page and PayPal page have proved valuable additions and thanks to the generosity of so many people we raised over £3000 during 2021 alone. Users of Amazon can now contribute to us, through AmazonSmile which allows you to support your favourite charitable organisation every time you shop, at no cost to you.

Caring Kits for Kids on the World Wide Web.

Our website has been constantly evolving since its launch last year and is the place to go for information on the charity’s background, achievements and fundraising campaigns.

Our ‘Newsroom’ page is the latest addition to the site, responsible for hosting blog posts like this one and providing updates on the charity’s progress.

Delivering on our mission.

Not only has the charity been growing, but the number of partner hospitals we are proud to support has too!

St George’s University Hospital was the latest to get involved and as a direct result of donations from supporters we were able to deliver 13 kits to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and 10 to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. We hope to get many more kits distributed this year, as our networks become more established.

In every kit, there is a selection of brand new essentials and items intended to provide dignity and comfort whilst a child, young person or mother is receiving care and when they leave the ward. The contents of a kit varies according to the recipient’s need but a gender-neutral children’s kit would typically include pyjamas, toiletries such as soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, an age-appropriate book and a soft toy.

When the charity was established, it was noticed that in some cases medical staff were paying for these out of their own pockets. By providing these materials, the charity hopes to alleviate some of the emotional and financial responsibility medical practitioners feel for their patients in the world beyond their care.

Tackling isolation during the pandemic and into the future.

A round up of 2021 would unfortunately be incomplete without mentioning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worryingly, many children receiving care during this period did not have ready access to family support, for a variety of reasons. In some cases parents or guardians may have needed to work longer hours, been ill themselves or even sadly passed on as a result of the virus. On top of the increasing number of children requiring mental health support, rises in rates of domestic abuse and declining standards of living over the last year, meant more and more people ending up in need of comfort and support in hospital. We are therefore extra thankful that, our hospital partners were able to respond by handing out kits to any child that needed them during their time in hospital, regardless of their situation. To reflect this wider demand, the charity’s constitution has been amended to include a third objective: committing to provide kits for any child or young person in need of comfort in hospital.

We need you!

Caring Kits for Kids is run by volunteers and so we are always on the lookout for those who want to get involved. If you think you could lend a hand please refer to the ‘Getting Involved’ section of our website, where you will find further details. There is no need to commit long- term, we will be grateful for any time you can contribute.

Caring Kits for Kids would like to acknowledge and thank all our supporters for their generous donations plus corporate partners and volunteers donating their time and energy, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Here’s to great things to come in 2022!