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Help us ensure that every child has access to the best medical care when they need it most! Choose to support MedEquip4Kids MedEquip4Kids improves the health of children and babies in the North West by providing equipment not available from limited NHS resources. We believe every child should have access to the best medical care when they need it most. We provide lifesaving paediatric medical equipment, play facilities in hospitals to calm and distract anxious children, specialised equipment to give disabled children a better quality of life, and resources to improve children’s mental health. We also run The Hummingbird Project, a mental health intervention for students in secondary school. The Project aims to make a real, measurable difference to young people’s emotional wellbeing through an eight-week programme delivered in schools which covers different aspects of mental health. It will help young people and school staff to become more aware of the early warning signs and alleviate some of the pressure on mainstream services.

We are all told the Festive Season is "the most wonderful time of the year" however for some families Christmas will never be the same again... Every 30 minutes in the UK, a child suffers a brain injury; perhaps by the time you have read this page, a child will be on their way to hospital. Acquired brain injuries can be devastating for a child themselves, but they also affect the whole family. Parents suddenly have to come to terms with what has happened and understand that their child’s future may not be what they had thought it would be. Siblings can feel left out as parents may spend months in hospital whilst caring for their injured child, perhaps even on Christmas Day. Throughout this traumatic time (and beyond), one charity is there: the Child Brain Injury Trust. The Child Brain Injury Trust helps families deal with the impact of brain injury when there is nowhere else to turn. We are the only UK charity to provide long-term support to any child with an acquired brain injury, no matter how 'mild' the diagnosis, how it was caused or their age. We will support whole families from the moment of injury in hospital, throughout their rehabilitation, education and until they turn 24. We rely on donations to provide this vital support across the UK and you can help us. Please donate today so that we can stop families feeling isolated and alone this Christmas. Thank you. What are acquired brain injuries? The most common causes of injury in children we support are road traffic accidents, brain tumour and meningitis. Other causes include medical intervention, suicide attempts, poisoning and non-accidental injury. Brain injuries can cause changes in thought processes, learning, communication, emotions, movement (physical disability), personality, growth, and behaviour. Some children are living with one issue, some are left with multiple disabilities; it depends on which part(s) of their brain are damaged. A brain injury has a devastating and life-long impact on the child, however this also extends out to their parents, siblings, teachers and everyone around them. It is also common for one parent to stop working to care for their child which causes financial issues. In turn, financial difficulties can cause social deprivation and isolation. We asked our beneficiaries about the effects of their child’s brain injury on their family life: 43% said they were unable to do as much together as a family due to financial difficulties. How we help Our vision is for every child to achieve the best possible outcome. Each year we help around 5,000 people through our range of services which include a national helpline, webinars (live online training sessions), publications and a small grants programme for financially disadvantaged families.

Greater Manchester Youth Network (GMYN) is a charity working with some of the most disadvantaged young people in the region. This includes children in care, young carers, disabled young people, homeless young people and many others who face significant barriers. These young people are often socially excluded, lacking in confidence and aspiration or have little support from elsewhere. Through GMYN’s projects and support, young people are able to make positive progression in their lives. We provide activities such as training, volunteering and social enterprise which help these vulnerable young people to broaden their horizons, gain confidence, become active members of their community and have a real sense of achievement. GMYN also acts as a valuable information and support service, putting vulnerable young people in touch with appropriate agencies. Without GMYN’s intervention and personalised assistance, many young people would miss out on the urgent support that they vitally need. GMYN’s projects are delivered at various locations across Greater Manchester. Our success has come from our model that we deliver youth projects at various locations with partner organisations instead of delivering as a typical youth centre. However, over the years though we have seen more young people come to us and we have started to deliver more projects inside the building. This is not ideal as the building is not really welcoming for young people nor have the facilities for appropriate youth project delivery. We would really like to change this and although we still never envisage the building to change into a youth centre, we feel we could make some changes to make the building more youth friendly, have better resources for project delivery and allow GMYN to explore new project ideas to support more young people. Our basement space has real potential for new activities. We think it could be used as a young person’s training suite, arts/drama space if we were able to improve the look, purchase appropriate project equipment and make it more appealing to use. At the back of the basement area is our store room. This space is used at the moment to store project equipment and not much more than that! However, the room is sound proofed so some investment and some creative building/decorating, we would really like to change this space into a creative music room. Young people would then be able to get involved with music projects and create their own music. We are delivering a fantastic music/sports project at the moment (boots and beats) that this space would be ideal for so we are trying to secure funding from other sources as well for this. We would need to source appropriate furnishing and music equipment in the long term but it would be great if we could get started and make this room into an amazing creative space for young people.