Alport UK
Alport UK is a patient-led charity which creates a brighter future for people living with the inherited rare disease, Alport Syndrome, which can cause deafness, kidney failure and eye abnormalities.
The Story of Christmas is supporting Alport UK set up an Alport haub in London and funding two Alport hub events to connect disadvantaged children and young people living with Alport Syndrome. Alport UK uses social media before and after the events and help them form life-long friendships with a local London community, which supports them through the critical stages of getting their first hearing aids, kidney dialysis and kidney transplantation.
Ambitious Aspire Achieve
Ambition Aspire Achieve is a grassroots charity providing opportunities and experiences for children and young people of all ages in the London Borough of Newham, helping them to flourish and reach their full potential. Delivering a range of activities, services and interventions, based in its play and youth hubs, the charity engages and supports nearly 950 young people every year.
With the help of The Story of Christmas, Ambition Aspire Achieve will be undertaking vital development work at its flagship hub in Canning Town, the Terence Brown Arc in the Park. This will include refurbishing and developing a unique adventure playground, cherished by local children, and creating a new nature garden, sensory play area and outdoor classroom, to further improve facilities and experiences for the many who will access the venue for years to come.
Cardinal Hume Centre
The Cardinal Hume Centre is dedicated to helping young people, children and families thrive by providing long-term solutions which break the cycle of poverty and prevent homelessness. Each year, the Centre gives a home to up to 32 young people, aged 16-24, in supported accommodation. Many residents have faced significant hardships, such as experiences of social care, family breakdowns, abuse or the trauma of fleeing war zones.
The Story of Christmas is helping refurbish kitchens for young people to create warm, welcoming and high-quality spaces. These will foster self-esteem, community and personal growth, providing a safe and supportive environment for residents.
The Children’s Trust
The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with brain injury and nerve disability. Based in Tadworth, Surrey, it delivers rehabilitation, education and community services to give children the opportunity to live the best life possible. The average rehabilitation programme at the Trust is 12 weeks, during which time children have access to a daily timetable of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and hydrotherapy.
The Story of Christmas will fund a new bedroom hoist which will allow two children to begin their day in the most comfortable, dignified way. This safe and easy transition for these children using hoists is a hugely important part of the foundation for their therapeutic programme. It is vital in helping to preserve their self-esteem and achieve their rehabilitation goals.
Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy (EYLA)
Established in Newham, east London in 2002, EYLA is a youth charity which works with parents and partners to motivate and encourage students to go beyond their personal best. In addition to its own leadership curriculum, EYLA’s programmes include creative arts, academic coaching, mentoring, career insights and employability skills, community service and a ‘parent university’.
The Story of Christmas is funding a project to refurbish and revitalise EYLA’s building and outdoor space. These improvements will create a more visually inspiring, inviting and welcoming ambiance, providing a backdrop for creative activities. The garden space will provide peace and tranquillity to encourage meditation and mindfulness towards improved mental health and well-being.
HARP
HARP is Southend’s leading homelessness charity, providing housing, advice and support to over 1,000 people each year who either are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of losing their homes. It helps lay the foundations needed to rebuild their lives and end the need for rough sleeping for good.
The Story of Christmas funding will enable HARP to reconfigure the reception space and treatment rooms at its popular day centre, The Bradbury Centre, open 365 days of the year, providing hot breakfasts, showers and dedicated support to those rough sleeping. The reconfiguration will result in a more welcoming space, additional laundry provision and a new specialist medical treatment room for the homeless community to access medical health treatment from NHS nurses.
Haven House Children’s Hospice
Haven House Children’s Hospice cares for babies, children and young people who have a life limiting or life threatening condition. The charity’s mission is to provide the highest quality paediatric palliative and holistic care services, when and where families most need them. All services are provided at no cost to families and are delivered at the charity’s Woodford Green hospice in East London and in family homes, schools and hospitals across North East London, West Essex and East Hertfordshire.
The Story of Christmas is supporting the Hospice to transform its dated and poorly laid-out kitchen into a professional-standard facility. This will facilitate safe preparation of nutritious meals, Improve food safety and allergen management and help the hospice’s staff to expand meal options and nutritional quality for seriously ill children.
OPORA
Founded in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, OPORA is dedicated to helping Ukrainians rebuild their lives sustainably in the UK. As a primary information and support hub for one of the largest online Ukrainian communities in the UK, the charity provides integration support through comprehensive information services and emergency assistance in the Ukrainian language.
OPORA believes that mental health support is essential for the sustainable rebuilding of lives and this is one of its core activities. With financial support from The Story of Christmas, OPORA will develop, produce, and distribute 1,500 copies of an interactive mental health and wellbeing book for Ukrainian teenagers in the UK. Created in collaboration with a qualified Ukrainian psychologist, this project aims to support their adaptation, preserve their cultural identity and address their emotional needs.
The Passage
The Passage’s vision is of a society where street homelessness no longer exists and where everyone has a place to call home. Founded in 1980, The Passage is based in the heart of Westminster and offers clients the resources and solutions to end their homelessness for good, including routes to employment, benefits, and appropriate accommodation.
The charity runs a modern Resource Centre – a central hub offering hot meals, showers, clothes, laundry facilities, etc – in Victoria. It also has five residential and resettlement projects, outreach and health services, homelessness prevention schemes, a pioneering modern slavery referral programme and migrant legal support and advocacy. With the support of The Story of Christmas, The Passage will be able to refurbish the women’s shower facilities in the Resource Centre.
Restore the Music (RTM)
RTM is a low overhead/high impact charity addressing the systematic inequality in the level of music provision in state schools, specifically those in areas of high socio-economic deprivation. The charity has awarded £2.6 million over ten years to more than 150 schools, sparking the potential in 150,000 students aged 4-18, transforming their lives through music.
The Story of Christmas funding will provide musical instruments for two more schools – one primary and one secondary – specifically to areas of need identified in Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham.
Run Kids Run
Run Kids Run aims to bridge the funding gap in state primary schools by connecting them with corporate sponsors through running events. These ensure that schools, serving disadvantaged communities, gain access to vital funding, helping them enrich education and tackle persistent inequalities in the state system. With this support, schools can set bold improvement goals and turn their visions into reality.
The Story of Christmas funding will transform the learning environments in two Run Kids Run partner schools in Camden and Southwark. The first will redevelop an outdated playground into an inclusive space where children can stay active, engage in imaginative play and build social skills. The second will create a sensory room, providing essential support for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), helping them regulate emotions and navigate sensory challenges.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospice
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices care for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, along with their families, across south-west and north-west London and Surrey. Every moment is made to count, whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years. Families are supported from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional, and medical care which is provided free of charge and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Story of Christmas funding will help Shooting Star Children’s Hospices undertake the complete refurbishment of its hydrotherapy pool for the first time in 20 years. This significant improvement will ensure that families and children have the best possible experience, enhancing the range of therapeutic services offered.
St Christopher’s Fellowship
St Christopher’s Fellowship, established in 1870, works with children and young people in care – providing fostering, residential and support services to help create brighter futures. They are also supported in pursuing hobbies, in preparing for and applying for jobs and housing to ensure a successful transition to independent living. St Christopher’s ensures that the young people can be safe, loved, happy and achieve.
Howard House, a 16-bedroom home, staffed 24/7, provides support for young people and helps them to engage in a range of activities on and off site. The Story of Christmas is supporting the creation of a welcoming and engaging private space for those on site, where they can have one-to-one meetings with the staff team – discussing anything from school or training – to more personal issues around mental health, wellbeing and past trauma.
St Giles
St Giles uses expertise and real-life past experiences to empower people, who are not getting the help they need, because they have been failed time and time again. At the heart of the charity’s work is a unique lived experience model: many of the team members are trained professionals who have personally overcome the same challenges their beneficiaries face.
The Story of Christmas funding will support St Giles Cymru to refurbish the Community Hub and Café space at Aberdulais Falls, Neath. The refurbishment will create a safe, accessible and inclusive space, enabling St Giles to deliver peer-led training, wellbeing support and employability pathways for people facing significant barriers to work.
The café will operate both as a visitor facility and a training environment, creating employment pathways through on-site hospitality and heritage volunteer training. It will also contribute to the long-term sustainability of Aberdulais as a Community Heritage Hub, strengthening its role as a destination for the local community and a centre for community events.
St Hilda’s East
St Hilda’s East imagines a world where everyone in its local community thrives, feels connected to those around them and confident in life prospects. The charity runs a welcoming Community Centre in Tower Hamlets, where it offers a wide range of engaging activities including: sensory play sessions to support Under 5’s with special needs and disabilities; and out of school activities for those aged 10 to 19, helping them to develop their self-esteem and confidence, and equip them with skills for further education and future employment.
The Story of Christmas will help finance St Hilda’s East to redecorate and refurnish its community centre which helps nurture young people’s sense of belonging and ownership, and a desire to participate and succeed.
St Mungo’s
St Mungo’s works directly with people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, providing services and support. Last year the charity supported 23,829 people across 147 services in London and the South East offering rough sleeping support and emergency accommodation, help finding a longer-term home and offering skilled training services to get people into work,
The Story of Christmas is supporting the renovation of four kitchens at a St Mungo’s hostel in London. Renovated kitchens will allow residents to advance their wellbeing through improved nutrition and access to shared social spaces, both of which will support their long term recovery from homelessness.
Starlight
Starlight is the UK’s leading charity for children’s play in hospitals, hospices and other healthcare settings. Children’s experiences of hospital and treatment can often be lonely, frightening and medical procedures can be highly traumatic. Research proves that play has the power to reduce fear, pain and trauma during treatment and recovery from illness – supporting mental and physical health and resilience. Play helps children to achieve the highest attainable standard of health – even more important during the special Christmas period, when as many as 150,00 children spend this time in hospital every year.
With Story of Christmas’ support, we’ll enable children to live every day fully – even when they are sick.
Tim Henman Foundation
Tim Henman Foundation is a youth charity with the mission of transforming the lives of disadvantaged young people by creating sporting and educational opportunities as well as improving mental and physical health. Its place-based partnership model delivers programmes directly to areas of deprivation to young people who most need support.
The Story of Christmas will be supporting the building of a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) in the south building playground at Cyril Jackson Primary School, which is based in the bottom 18% most deprived local areas in the country. The students are currently being deprived of adequate sports provision and this project will transform participation in sport across the school.
World Heartbeat Music Academy
World Heartbeat Music offers music lessons, workshops, practice facilities, and opportunities for diverse, disadvantaged children and young people aged 5-25 years to learn music and play together. For so many, the Academy is a haven and a home where music is not just a skill – it is a lifeline and a promise of brighter futures.
The Story of Christmas funding is helping to refurbish the Academy’s much-loved but heavily used musical home in converted warehouse space in Kimber Road, Wandsworth. The improvements will give children a warmer, cleaner and more welcoming place to come with their friends to play music. The improvements will engender children’s self-worth and make the Academy a greater community asset with improved space for concerts.
