This Christmas holiday in Craigfelen up in the Swansea valley, a kid that doesn’t like loud noises or struggles to make friends will walk into Clwb Calon and give a sigh of relief. Here she can play in peace, maybe make a new friend, and most importantly, be herself.
Hundreds of kids across Swansea don’t get that chance to be themselves. They don’t get that chance to be understood and be supported. They don’t have a space to be themselves.
This Christmas, we want you to help us give it to them.
Read on to find out about the Big Give campaign and how a little help from you today could change some kids’ lives in Wales forever.
Let's Be Frank, The Situation Is Bleak
The situation for children’s services in South Wales seems to be an unending story of funding cuts, failed initiatives and dashed hopes. Since austerity began in 2010, there has been a 70% drop in funding for youth services in Wales, and today Swansea has the smallest youth service budget in the country.
Families and teachers are struggling to cope with the basics, let alone provide the special support kids with complicated emotional needs require. As a result, kids across Wales are growing up without knowing how to build positive relationships with those around them. They’re being left to struggle on their own.
At Adenydd we know how tough these kids have it. That’s why we put together the Ffrindiau Annwyl project, to help give kids the crucial emotional skills they need to grow and to shine. With special training, safe spaces to learn and the power of community, we know we can have an outsized impact on these kids and communities.
With your help we know we can change the story and bring hope and energy into kids’ lives.
How are we so certain we can do this? Well, we’ve done it already.
Success Story: Craigfelen
When Adenydd arrived in Craigfelen Primary School in Clydach the community felt pretty left behind - as if the M4 was an impenetrable moat that child services funding won’t cross. We recognised that the best way to support and improve the lives of the local kids with additional learning needs was to build support for their families, carers and teachers. So we got to work doing just that.
We started Ffrindiau Annwyl sessions in the community - these help build trust between kids and parents, working on emotional communication and sensory regulation. These are especially important for kids with complex needs or neurodiversity. The response from parents and carers has been resoundingly positive.
“From week one, she has more understanding, more routine”
“It’s given me support, help and the ability to socialise with others in the area”
“[Ffrindiau Annwyl] helped me build a better connection with my child”
The success of these sessions coincided with the creation of Calon Y Gymuned (Heart of the Community), essentially a group for local families to access guidance, training, knowledge, and most importantly support. From people left behind by services in the city, now Craigfelen has a community working together and thriving, – together.
Adenydd worked to support this growing community of parents and carers to form Clwb Calon, a non-profit safe space for kids with additional learning needs to go to in school holidays. With sensory play and dedicated staff, it’s become a different kind of holiday club. As one of our parents said, “It’s a place my children can come and just be themselves.”
Even Bigger Ambitions
Craigfelen is now our blueprint. We’ve seen how straightforward it is to improve the lives of kids and parents, and build community, and we don’t just want to do it again.
Waun Wen and Plasmarl are two schools in some of the most deprived areas of Swansea. They need a bit of support and a bit of love, and Adenydd wants to bring plenty of both.
We’ve got a plan for bringing Ffrindiau Annwyl and everything we achieved in Craigfelen to them, but we need support from you in order to do this.
What Can You Do To Help?
This year, Adenydd is taking part in the Give Big initiative. Every donation we receive before midday on the 9th of December will be matched by another benefactor. This essentially means everything you give will be doubled.
For every £1 donated, we will get £2.
But, there’s a catch. We have to reach a fundraising target of £8000 before midday on the 9th December.
This is a chance for a small donation to have a very real and very big impact.
This Christmas, we have the opportunity to take what we learned at Craigfelen and bring those services to hundreds of other kids in Swansea.
For a short time only, you have the chance to actually make that impact and put more communities of carers, kids and parents on to a brighter path. At Adenydd we’re at the beginning of a big, exciting journey. We hope you’ll join us.
https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS000006XoYsYAK?utm_campaign=a05WS000006XoYsYAK-WEBSITE
After donating, if you could reshare our videos on your preffered social media platfrom it would go a long way to helping us reach others as the clock ticks down:
https://www.instagram.com/adenydduk/
https://web.facebook.com/adenydddevelopmentaltrauma/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/adenydd/
