News from the sector
Apply for school meals funding
Groups are asked to apply for a share of a £2 million funding pot. The scheme aims to make sure free meals and healthy snacks are available for every nursery, primary and secondary school pupil who takes part in next year’s Children’s Holiday Food Programme (CHFP). Thousands of youngsters in Glasgow have enjoyed fresh food, nutritious meals and activities during school holidays thanks to the programme, which was introduced in 2018 to help address poverty in the city. The programme is funded by Glasgow City Council and delivered by charities, third sector organisations and community groups. Glasgow’s City Treasurer, Councillor Ricky Bell, said: “The Children’s Holiday Food Programme has gone from strength to strength and brings with it many other benefits for the children and their families. “We remain committed to working with third sector organisations to deliver this invaluable programme. It’s part of our on-going work to tackle food poverty and inequality; where people cannot afford or don’t have access to nutritious food.” The CHFP runs during the spring, summer, October and February school holidays. Organisations have until Friday, October 23 to apply. More information here
Three directors to leave BHF
Amanda Bringans, director of fundraising at the British Heart Foundation, is among three directors who will leave the charity as part of a major restructure caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The charity said today that Bringans, until recently chair of the Institute of Fundraising, would leave the BHF along with Carolan Davidge, director of marketing and engagement, and Jacob West, director of healthcare innovation, as it reduced the number of directorates from eight to six. The BHF, which expects to lose about £60m in income this year because of the outbreak, warned in July that up to 300 jobs were at risk because of the pandemic. It employs about 4,300 people. It said that it would merge its fundraising, engagement and marketing activities into a team led by a new executive director. It will also bring together its medical and healthcare innovation divisions to form a team led by Sir Nilesh Samani, its current medical director. The charity is starting a consultation with staff on how the changes will be implemented, with about 300 jobs expected to be removed. But it said it hoped that up to half of those job cuts would be made via existing vacancies. The proposals exclude staff working in its network of about 750 shops. Asked whether the three directors were being made redundant, a spokesman for the charity said: “Carolan, Amanda and Jacob have all made personal decisions to leave the BHF.”
Fundraiser for good cause
Litres of hand sanitiser and more than 100 face masks have helped raise much-needed funds for a charity. Iola More and Muriel Pate helped out during the coronavirus lockdown by supplying the Humbie Hub village shop with the essential items. Iola, a virology student at the University of Edinburgh, had quietly been making hand sanitiser in her mum’s kitchen. That saw her wearing breathing apparatus because of the toxicity of the ethanol. Meanwhile, Muriel said: “I trained as a sewing teacher or needlework teacher when I started out 50 years ago. “Since then, I’ve collected lovely cotton materials, with all sorts of patterns.People have given me bits and I have used them between times.” Al Beck, Margo Hodge and Frank Kirwan, all members of Humbie, East and West Saltoun, and Bolton Community Council, came up with the idea at the beginning of April to make the masks and sanitiser as coronavirus restrictions started to be imposed. The items were donated to the Humbie Hub for free distribution within the community. Morag Taylor, manager of the Hub, accepted donations from anyone who wanted to make a contribution. Those donations soon added up and a cheque for £600 was handed over to Blood Bikes Scotland by Mr Kirwan. Blood Bikes Scotland offers a free-of-charge transport service to the NHS as a way of ‘giving something back’. Urgent small items, such as blood and urine, are transported using motorbikes. Steve Black, a committee member of the charity, said: “Fundraising for our charity activities in support of the NHS have been limited by Covid-19, and yet demand for our services has increased because of it.”
Don’t flush campaign launched
Social enterprise Hey Girls launched an awareness campaign this week at Portobello Beach, highlighting the environmental cost of flushing period products down the toilet. It is estimated from a study conducted by the Journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences that 700,000 panty liners, 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 period pads are flushed down the toilet every single day in the UK. Many of these items not only contribute to expensive sewer blockages but can also end up in the ocean. In a first for period product manufacturers in the UK, Hey Girl’s organic, plastic free and disposable range of products now carry ‘do not flush’ warnings on their wrappers. Celia Hodson, Founder Hey Girls said: “We’ve always viewed our packaging as a space to share more than just brand information, since our launch in 2018 we have carried the National Domestic Violence helpline number on the inside of our boxes; now we are introducing a ‘do not flush’ symbol on all of our individual product wrappers. Far too many people simply do not realise that period products should never be flushed down the loo and should always be disposed of responsibly. We hope that this step will not only raise awareness around the issue of period waste in our oceans, but also spur other bigger period product manufacturers to follow suit.” Scottish Water on average attends 96 blockages every day aross the country, with 80% of blockages being caused by the wrong items being put into the sewer network at a cost of £6.5million annually. Marine Conservation Society data shows that 5.4 pieces of litter identified as menstrual waste are found per 100m of beach in Scotland.
