Charity of the Year
Each year, Scottish Women in Business adopts a charity, nominated by members and selected by its President in consultation with committee members. At each event, a donation of £1 per member is added to the total to be donated to the charity at the end of the year.
Charity 2009-10
SWIB's charity for 2009-10 is the Glasgow Children's Holiday Scheme (GCHS). The aim of the scheme is to provide a break for children and families who are socially excluded. This can help the child to break out of what might be a longstanding family cycle of poverty. The results can be dramatic - children staying on for further education, training for employment, reaching for and achieving new-found goals.
The children referred to the scheme stay for a week during the school summer holidays with a volunteer host family, sharing ordinary family life with them. The experience is often mind-broadening, and enhances children’s self-esteem and confidence. On average, the scheme supports over 400 children annually, many of whom return to host families for up to 5 or 6 years. In addition GCHS has four caravans at Wemyss Bay, equipped with toys, books and games. These allow 120 families annually to experience a caravan holiday, which can make the difference between a complete breakdown and coping with the varied stresses of disability and social isolation.
You can find out more about the Scheme at
http://www.glasgowchildrensholidayscheme.org.uk/.
Previous years
The charity chosen for 2008-09 was Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Big Build Appeal, which is raising money to build a new hospice in Glasgow - a hospice that will be one of the best in Europe. SWIB raised £927 for the Big Build Appeal, which was presented to Marie Curie at the SWIB event in September 2009.
Previous recipients have included the Parkinson's Disease Society, Yorkhill Children's Foundation, CRY, Maggie Centre and Sense.
Choosing the Charity of the Year
For 2010-11, SWIB is inviting nominations from members for charities to be considered as its Charity of the Year. These should be about 200 words explaining why your nominated charity should be supported by SWIB. Nominations should be emailed to vice-president@scottishwomeninbusiness.org.uk by Friday 6 August. Supporting brochures, reports or flyers with additional information about the charity can also be attached. All submissions will be considered by the committee and the chosen charity will be announced in October 2010. As this year, there will be a preference to support a small charity with a local connection to Glasgow.
