Charity reflects on changing needs over 25 years

A charity that raises funds to provide children with "essential items" has said families are facing "changing pressures" as celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Help a Guernsey Child said since it was created in 2001 it has provided more than £1.2m worth of essential items, equipment, services and support to local children and young people.

The charity said in its early years it gave financial support to a number of larger community projects benefiting children but there was now an increasing focus on helping individual children and families.

Alex Jenner, from Help a Guernsey Child, said: "Over the past 25 years, we have seen significant changes in the types of support families require."

Jenner said despite changes in needs the charity's "purpose has remained the same, to ensure that children in the Bailiwick are not disadvantaged because they lack the essentials that every child deserves".

The charity said it works through professional referrers who know the children and families involved.

Applications for grants come in from social workers, health visitors, teachers, doctors, nurses and other frontline professionals and are considered individually by the charity's Directors.

The charity said the increasing focus on helping in individual cases meant providing something as "fundamental as a bed, flooring, white goods, clothing, safety equipment or a heating appliance, as well as specialist disability equipment and educational opportunities".

'Profound difference'

It added the nature of their work reflected the "changing pressures" faced by local families.

These included the rising cost of living and increased demand for essential household items and practical support, it said.

Jenner said: "A relatively small grant at exactly the right time can make a profound difference to a child's safety, wellbeing, education or independence."

Follow BBC Guernsey on X, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk, external.