Today’s blog for the #BYHPChristmas Campaign about BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

Eight folding tables - for training, meetings and events

We have already blogged about Unlocking Potential in this series and as part of that our facility becomes a training room which means that we need tables to sit at.

​We have a few but it does sometimes get a little cosy sat around the small number we have if we have a group at the maximum size of 12.

Today’s blog for the #BYHPChristmas Campaign about BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

Seven packs of hats, gloves and scarves (or as many as you are willing to give)
 
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that it gets cold in winter and even if young people have some sort of accommodation, often they end up spending a great deal of their days outside as they may feel unable to stick around during the daytime at friends’ houses, in their temporary accommodation or in B&Bs etc.
 
So, what could be better for us to collect for our young people than the hats, gloves and scarves we all get out from the back of the cupboard when the chilly days start to bite or for those more fashion conscious, the ones purchased at the shops to renew last year’s out of fashion items which are still perfectly useable.
 
Given that our Wish List has been circulating for a while now, we have already had some kind donations of such items, notably last week from The Tibbetts Group Limited and from The Goodman family.

Today’s blog for the #BYHPChristmas Campaign about BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

Six laptops or notebooks

Already in this blog series I've already talked about Unlocking Potential http://www.byhp.org.uk/unlocking-potential.html and as a big part of that programme is helping young people prepare CVs, write letters of application and do the normal thing we all have done whilst looking for a job, online job searches, it is essential that our IT equipment is fit for purpose and currently it really isn’t!

We have some local businesses looking to help us on this request with some items and of course it will be amazing to get their support and we will thank them massively when the items are received but we feel that we still should post this blog to see if actually we could get more than just six as if we got 12 every young person on the course could have one to use.

I asked one of our volunteers who helps on the programme to make a short video to explain why we have added this item to the Santa Wish List. The video of Rachel will be available tomorrow. 

If you would like to help us with the sixth item on our Santa Wish List, to make a donation of money please go to https://localgiving.com/charity/byhp or to donate a specific item please contact Linda.Slide@byhp.org.uk 

Many Thanks & Merry Christmas.

As mentioned in the Day 6 blog, I asked one of our volunteers who helps on the Unlocking Potential programme to make a short video to explain why we have added Six laptops or notebooks to the Santa Wish List. Here is Rachel.

Today’s blog for the #BYHPChristmas Campaign about BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

Five thousand pounds!

This is going to be a much longer post as I think the amount of money deserves some explanation.

It isn't difficult to see that life is tough for charities at the moment with spending cuts, media stories about excessive admin costs, high salaries for managers and limited financial governance in cases like Kids Company.

However, I can only speak as I find and having just joined the charity sector two months ago with BYHP I do not recognise those issues within this small charity.

As you may know, my background is in corporate procurement so obviously a key focus for me was the cost structures of the organisation, but actually looking at them they're pretty lean, very little if any money is spent "unnecessarily" and as with most organisations the vast majority of costs is on the infrastructure of the building and primarily staff salaries, those front line specialists who deliver services to young people and their families and make a life changing difference to their outcomes.

You may not be too up-to-date with how charities are funded but a common misconception is charities gain a lot of their money from the public sector, local authorities etc but in reality, increasingly it is a job of a charity to source funding, bid for money and to apply for grants and trust fund donations.

Today’s blog for the #BYHPChristmas Campaign about BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

4 packs of first aid kit supplies

As we are very safety conscious and careful here at BYHP we have not had to use many of our 1st Aid kit items, however unfortunately most of the items in our four 1st Aid boxes have now expired or are close to expiring. We would therefore love to receive items with a long expiry date to replace our existing kits, to ensure that we comply with all the relevant Health and Safety regulations.

Staff at The Tibbetts Group Limited in Banbury have already very kindly donated plasters and a complete 1st aid kit but we do still need some more items to replace those in the other 3 boxes, especially blue plasters for our Kitchen 1st Aid box, cleansing/sterilising wipes, disposable gloves and a facemask.
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In addition, as we take our young people out on trips, it would be fantastic to have a small portable 1st Aid kit to take with us to ensure we are well prepared in cause of any incidents.

Thursday’s blog for the #BYHPChristmas Campaign about BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

3 window blinds

We have a lovely modern building down in Chandos Close which Cherwell District Council kindly allows us to be the tenants of, but there are still a few things which have not been installed to enable us to fully use the space.

Following on from yesterday’s blog, sometimes when Unlocking Potential training sessions are taking place, the sun, as nice as it is, shines through the windows and makes it difficult to see the presentations or computer screens, especially at this time of the year when the bright winter sun is low in the sky.

Wednesday brings the second day in our series of blogs about the #BYHPChristmas Campaign and on the 2nd day of December, BYHP’s Santa Wish List has:

2 projector screens

One of the areas of BYHP’s work that is not yet so well know is the employability skills training programme “Unlocking Potential”
 
It is a five week employability course delivered by qualified professionals and business experts, aimed at young people aged 16-25 who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET). The sessions are delivered through group discussions, activities, role play, and individual support where required.
The young people on the programme can gain 5 accredited AQA qualifications:- Self-Awareness, Careers & Progression to Working Life, Responsibility of Independent Living, Conflict Resolution and Volunteering, as well as Food Hygiene in Catering Level 2.
From September 2014 to September 2015 of the 88 young people on the Unlocking Potential programme:-

• 43% found employment
• 10% returned to education
• 34% are in volunteering roles gaining valuable work experience

 
The strategic direction of BYHP is to drive ever greater levels of engagement with external organisations – local schools, businesses, trade and training bodies, charity and community organisations – in order to foster a growing spirit of collaboration, to benefit from skilled professional inputs to make our programme as relevant as possible to the needs of potential employers and consequently to identify and secure partners who will provide opportunities for work experience placements and permanent employment vacancies for the Young People we work with.
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As we focus more on training and external engagement with the likes of schools we have become increasingly aware of the frailty of some of our equipment, in particular our projector screen, which has a life of its own and threatens to fall apart if you even look at it in the wrong way !

You have no doubt realised that it is the 1st of December today but you may not know that it is also the International Day of Giving known as #GIVINGTUESDAY  http://givingtuesday.org.uk/

We at BYHP have been very fortunate in recent weeks since we launched our #BYHPChristmas Campaign as we have had a number of kind donations given to us, offers of time, goods and money.
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Those donations were as a result of a bit of fun we put together at the start of November, a few weeks after I joined BYHP. I asked the team and some of the young people we work with what we urgently needed around the place so that we could suggest options to the many extremely kind people who contact us wanting to support BYHP.