Sport Aberdeen brought the magic of the festive season to Care Experienced Children and Young People and young carers in Aberdeen last month thanks to big-hearted local companies and community donations.
Over 60 children and young people, together with their families, attended a Christmas party in December as part of the SPACE project (Supported Physical Activity for Care Experienced), an award-winning initiative that uses the positive benefits of sport and physical activity to help children and young people learn, develop and achieve.
The Promise reflects Scotland’s commitment that all care experienced children and young people will grow up loved, safe and respected. The Promise is built on five foundations: family, voice, care, people and scaffolding; all of these are embedded within Sport Aberdeen’s SPACE programme and its continued effort to support care experienced young people and their families.
The party participants, aged from lower primary to late teens, each received a selection box thanks to donations from members of the public, as well as businesses including Nu-Style Products Perform Panel, DNV Aberdeen, Bell Business and Semco Maritime.
A grand total of 400 selection boxes were received by Sport Aberdeen with some also going to local primary schools, children’s homes, adult care homes, Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital and Social Bite, a charity and social business in the city that supports a collaborative movement to end homelessness.
The project team are also extremely grateful for the support of local businesses who gave generous monetary donations to support the Christmas party.
Huge thanks to Mike Duthie of Flexistore, who donated £600, covering the cost of individual Christmas gifts for young people accessing specialist programmes.
Macphie UK Ltd of Glenbervie also gave generously to the party fund, as well as donations from the Aberdeen City Council Festive Fund.
The families attending the party on December 18th at Get Active @ Westburn enjoyed Christmas themed mini games and prizes, food, drinks, arts and crafts, as well as having a climbing tower attend from Adventure Aberdeen Kingswells, a Sport Aberdeen venue. Each child also received a party bag with goodies to take home.
Katrina Carr, Lead Active Schools Coordinator at Sport Aberdeen, said, “This was our third year organising the Christmas party for Aberdeen’s Care Experienced Children and Young People. It was particularly great to see a number of young people supported by ACC’s Youth Team in attendance, building on our positive partnership with the team thanks to our link ups throughout the year.
“Everyone attending was so excited for the party with all gifts very gratefully received. The Christmas celebration is a great opportunity for our team to remind care experienced children and young people, and their families, carers and social workers, that we are always here for them, particularly around Christmas.
“We’d like to thank all the businesses and members of the public for their kind donations that helped make the party a success and for allowing us bring festive cheer to care experienced children and young people in Aberdeen.”
To find out more about the SPACE programme and the work it does across the city, click here