Friends and Families of Special Children has received £5,000 to fund a year of fully inclusive activities for disabled children, young carers and siblings in Plymouth and the surrounding area.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
Friends and Families of Special Children supports families with a wide range of diagnosed and undiagnosed disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Genetic Disorders. The organisation also supports young carers and siblings who are often overlooked and unable to experience opportunities afforded to other children.
The grant will enable the charity to plan a wide and varied programme of activities in a nurturing and adapted environment to allow these vulnerable groups the chance to be children and have fun. It will also help reduce isolation for the wider family unit as peers can share experiences.
Gill Parker, Support Worker at Friends and Families of Special Children, said: “The grant will make a huge difference to our work in the local community as it enables us to forward-plan and work with families to give them access to inclusive and well-supported activities.”
Dawn Young, Branch Manager, at Santander’s Plymouth branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations every year to good causes throughout the UK. Our branch is committed to playing a key part in the community and we are delighted to be supporting Friends and Families of Special Children, and hope the donation makes a real difference to local children.”
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Stephanie Harris at Santander Tel: 020 7756 4221
Gill Parker at Friends and Families Tel: 01752 204369
About Friends and Families of Special Children
Friends and Families of Special Children Ltd is a Plymouth based charity covering the city of Plymouth and its surrounding area. We support families who have children that experience all forms of disabilities, additional needs and difficulties. For more information please visit: www.friendsandfamilies.org.uk
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £25 million in funding to 12,600 UK charities and in 2016 a further £5 million will be available through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. As at 30 June 2016, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c. 20,000 employees and operates through 847 branches (which includes 58 university branches) and 69 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.