YMCA Edinburgh

Window Wanderland is a community-based event all around the UK,  taking everyday windows and turning them into magical spaces in order to brighten up the long winter nights. The women’s group at YMCA decided to take part this year, designing a fabulous tribute to the fierce and fabulous women of Leith and the Newhaven fishwives. Tesco Express on Great Junction Street donated to us their window space for this wonderful event.

Pioneered by Kate, one of our fabulous workers and the women of YMCA’s Women’s Work groups the windows were filled with cameo shadow portraits of all the women who join us weekly at our Women’s Group. It was wonderful to see all the other projects around Leith that were lit up during this brilliant community event.

Join with us as we celebrate our work last year empowering children, young people and their families in Leith & across Edinburgh.

The formal agenda will be followed by coffee, tea and cakes.

On December 8th we were having our 3rd annual fundraising christmas concert. It took place at St Andre’s and St George’s West Church.

It was sponsored by Redpath & Mclean and Beveridge & Kellas.

Choirs that performed were Bethany Men’s Group, the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church Choir and the Zimbabwean Choir.

Scottish Youth Parliament Chair becomes President of YMCA Edinburgh

YMCA Edinburgh has appointed Terri Smith as their new President.  Terri has been involved in youth participation for 10 years having started with the Edinburgh Youth Issues Forum at 12. Since then she has won four consecutive elections representing Edinburgh Northern and Leith in the Scottish Youth Parliament and became Chair in July 2016.

Terri says; “I have a real passion for young people and in particular the role they can play in civic society. I am currently a trustee director of YouthLink Scotland, YoungScot and Together the children's alliance of implementing UNCRC. I was born and raised in Cables Wynd House and that's the primary reason why I care so passionately at changing the lives of young people."

Emma Brown, Chief Executive, says, “We are delighted to have Terri join as our President as not only does she brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge of young people and their participation, but also personal experience which will strengthen the future direction of YMCA Edinburgh.”

YMCA Edinburgh seeks to empower Young People, Children and their Families within Leith and across Edinburgh. In 2016 they supported 985 people from deprived and vulnerable backgrounds.  YMCA Edinburgh run a range of tailored programmes including; playrangers, playschemes and holiday clubs, mentoring for vulnerable young people, after school and youth clubs , schools work and women and families work.

YMCA Edinburgh is launching a £10k fundraising events appeal to ensure it strengthens and sustains the core funding of the charity.  Like many across the city while project funding has been easy to gain, the core stability of the organization has been more difficult to fund.  Ritchie Walker, Chair comments; “The excellent work of YMCA Edinburgh is seriously threatened by our difficulties in financing the team’s coordination, management and operational base”

As part of the appeal there is a Charity Five a Side Football Tournment on May 28th, a 24 mile sponsored Founders Day Walk from Leith to North Berwick on Sat 3rd (YMCA was founded in London on 6th June 1844) and a Yoga Fundraiser on 17th June.  

The appeal will run from 1st April for 90 days.  For more information call 0131 553 7877 or visit www.ymcaedinburgh.com or https://localgiving.org/charity/ymcaedinburgh/

Ends.

The 5p carrier bag charge at Tesco stores is being used for grants to improve local parks, hold community events, support sports groups and more.

We have been nominated to receive funding through #TescoBags for #Playrangers. If your local store is one of these stated below you will be given a token on completing your shop. This token can be used to vote for our project in March and April!

DALKEITH HARDENGREEN                          EH22 3PP EDINBURGH                                                   EH7 4EW EDINBURGH EXPRESS                                   EH8 7NG HADDINGTON                                                EH41 3LZ LEITH WLK EDINBRG EXP                             EH7 5HW GREAT JCT ST EDIN EXP                                EH6 5LJ NORTH BERWICK                                           EH39 5NF PICARDY PLACE EDI EXP                               EH1 3JT MUSSELBURGH EXTRA                                 EH21 7BL EDINBURGH LEITH                                         EH6 8HL EDINBURGH LEITH                                         EH6 8HL EDINBURGH GRACEMT EXP                         EH16 6RS EDINBURGH NIDDRIE EXP                            EH16 4DT EDINBURGH DUNDAS EXP                           EH3 6JN BONNYRIGG ROSEWLL EXP                         EH19 3PA

Check here to see if you'll be able to vote: http://buff.ly/2llluLm

Every little helps.

Volunteer Celebration 2016!

Such a pleasure to once again host a night where we celebrate our volunteers’ achievements and contributions to YMCA Edinburgh. We really appreciate all the time our volunteers have given and their dedication to our work. Altogether in the last year we had 132 volunteers who have dedicated 9,863 hours to reach out to 971 people.  That is equivalent to an additional 5.4 members of full time staff and on a minimum rate of £10 an hour £98,630 monetary contribution to the charity.

On the evening each of our programme managers explained a little bit about their area of work and showed a short video of the impact the work has made on the people we support. We were delighted to have in attendance the MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith – Ben Macpherson, who presented the certificates and awards. The special award recipients were: James Carroll for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Volunteering’, Vashti Maybourne for ‘Oustanding Contribution to Volunteering’ , Nathalie Nogues for ‘Significant Impact in a young persons life’ and Christine Hodge for Holiday Club – ‘Above and Beyond Award’.

The closing words were given by Terri Smith, SYP representative for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, who is also currently the chair of Scottish Youth Parliament. Terri provided an inspirational speech on her own life experiences growing up in Leith and the fact that everyone can make a contribution to society through volunteering and anyone can do anything they choose to set their minds to.  She left us with the words – People Make Edinburgh! 

The Photobooth gave the volunteers an opportunity to tell us why they volunteer with some heartwarming answers, as well as cheeky ones.

Annual Christmas Charity Concert, Friday 2nd December 2016, 7pm

Our annual Volunteer Celebration is just two weeks away! 28th of September, 7pm at the Acorn Centre, 1 Junction Place, Leith, EH6 6JA

The evening will recognise the invaluable contribution of our Volunteers to our work in inspiring the lives of those in Leith and across Edinburgh. It will include a celebration of our achievements in 2015-2016 and the presentation of awards and certificates by our MSP Ben Macpherson. The recently elected Chair of Scottish Youth Parliament MSYP Terri Smith will also be sharing some words and the event will be followed with tea, coffee and cakes.

If you are interested in coming along please RSVP by phone 0131 553 7877 or by email [email protected]

We hope you can join us! You can find the event on facebook by following the link. 

YMCA Edinburgh Playscheme serves free hot meals to families this summer tackling holiday hunger.

YMCA Edinburgh has been tackling holiday hunger this summer for 3 weeks by providing free hot meals for children who can’t access free school meals during the holidays as part of their playscheme. Up to 30 children between the age of 5-8 years attended the playscheme each week taking part in crafts, games and loose parts play in the morning.  At lunchtime parents and children’s siblings up to the age of 12 were invited to join the children for a hot lunch and an afternoon family activity to combat the pressure of families facing holiday hunger.

More than 360 meals were served to children and their families thanks to referrals from agencies in the area including; schools, social workers, family support organisations and health visitors. The kitchen supported the Make Lunch project, a nationwide initiative which aims to provide hot meals to children from low income families who would otherwise go without. Local volunteers from City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, the community, YMCA Edinburgh staff and volunteers prepared a hot meal each day for 3 weeks.

One parent whose child attended playscheme commented; “Very impressed with the food.  I love the fact that there is colourful chopped veg for the kids to try”

The Playscheme and Make Lunch initiative were funded through a micro-grant given by Cinnamon Network along with funding from Communities and Families Fund, The Big Lottery Fund.

A Scottish Government Report released earlier this year showed that 1 in 5 children, around 220,000, are living in poverty in Scotland, drawing from figures in 2014/15.  Whilst children in Scotland are entitled to free school meals from P1 to P3, in the holidays families living in poverty are put under additional pressure in providing food, and many will simply not have a nutritious hot meal.  Food poverty of course not only affects a child’s physical health but also their ability to concentrate, and can impact on their return to school.

Emma Brown, Chief Executive of YMCA Edinburgh highlights the importance of Make Lunch; “Playscheme provides valuable time for families in the pressure of the school holidays to allow children to take part in activities they could not otherwise afford.  The addition of Make Lunch this summer has allowed children and their families to not only have a nutritious hot meal together, but also to experience trying new food for the first time.  It was great to see on our learning tree at the end of the week so many children saying they had enjoyed the food and making things such as Fruit Kebabs”

The catchy tune with a powerful uplifting message, ‘I will survive’ blasted around The Acorn Centre in Edinburgh. However it was not Gloria Gaynor singing, it was the YMCA Women’s Group. This week’s group meeting involved a singing workshop with all members joining in unison to a sing-a-long of popular tunes. All the women had a smile on their face and were singing with a care-free attitude. What better way than to forget life’s challenges than being surrounded by friends and singing away?

The YMCA Edinburgh Women’s Group invites all women from the local Leith based area - and those further afield, to meet weekly and partake in a wide range of activities. The group attracts women from a range of diverse backgrounds, with many facing personal challenges such as: loneliness; poverty, physical and mental health issues, relationship difficulties, addiction, stress or low self-esteem. Through group activities the women gain confidence through developing new skills, socialise to make new friends and form a strong network of support for one another. It is a chance for the women to be surrounded by a friendly network of people, which can help each member move forward from personal issues. It acts as a form of escapism from their daily lives. A crèche is also available for those members who have small children.

The weekly meet-up involves having lunch and recently the cooking was led by a group of women who had completed a Menu Planning and Budgeting Course with Cyrenians.  This emphasised how to prepare low-cost, healthy meals in order to improve health and well-being. The collaboration between Cyrenians and the Women’s Group has provided volunteer opportunities for the women. The women have developed their cookery skills, which has given them a boost in confidence and received their REHIS Food Hygiene Certificate if they wish to pursue a career in catering in the future. 

The group provides each of the women with personal time to strengthen self-worth, self-esteem, increase confidence levels and socialisation skills. The group activities are enjoyable and all take place in a safe and secure environment.

This year's Playscheme has been re-imagined! 25 - 29 July |   01 - 05 August    | 08 - 12 August

Arts and Crafts, Games, Music and more are on as usual, but now families can join in as well. While the mornings are still for children only, parents and siblings under 12 are invited to join for a free lunch and an activity for the whole family in the afternoon, if they wish of course!

To be able to attend children and families should meet two of the following criteria:

Children aged 5-8 (or about to start P1 in August)

Receiving free school meals

Single parent household

Receiving support from Children or Family Agency

For more information on the referral process and for any help, contact Victoria at: [email protected] | ​07754 475923 | 0131 553 7877

Want to hear about our Playrangers Service? Who is better to tell you than the children that join in every week!