Heart children’s charities make sacrifices to protect aid for hardest hit by credit crunch
PRESS RELEASE23rd October 2008 The Children's Heart Federation is urgently refocusing its resources to protect the small grants scheme that ensures parents hit hardest by the credit crunch can visit their children recovering from heart surgery during extended hospital stays. Having started the year with reserve funds within the Charity Commission’s recommended range of three to six months’ operating costs, the economic downturn is now forcing the charity to live off the money it brings in month by month. The Children's Heart Federation is an umbrella charity in the £1M turnover bracket which supports families of children with a congenital heart defect through information, events and welfare grants. The Federation’s 22 member charities are all far smaller than the charities with reserve millions frozen in Icelandic banks. Across the Federation, milestones of the annual fundraising plan such as sponsored marathons are yielding significantly less, donations from individuals and companies are trickling off and major funders are releasing grants in small chunks rather than the promised lump sums, leaving children’s heart charities vulnerable to cash flow crises. Whilst the charities’ incomes are falling, the demands on them are rising, as parents are asking for more help with rising transport and utility costs. Hospital stays for paediatric heart surgery can often last for many weeks at specialist centres far from the family home. Poor circulation and reduced activity levels make heart children particularly vulnerable to the cold. Children's Heart Federation Chief Executive, Anne Keatley-Clarke comments, “We have already had to disappoint over 20 heart-children who are recovering from treatment by replacing our annual trip to Lapland with a more affordable event in the UK, and now we are considering cutting our already small staff team which will make it even harder to deliver vital services.” Ms Keatley-Clarke continues, “As our services contract, our focus is on absolutely essential activity, such as the information service and family grants, even if desirable ‘fun days’ that provide opportunities for respite and family peer-to-peer support have to fall by the wayside.” Family Services Manager, Samantha Johnson adds, “From calls to our helpline, I’m picking up more anxiety from parents who fear they’ll lose their jobs because of taking time off to care for their heart-child. With children recovering in hospital from heart surgery for six weeks at a time – and sometimes needing several operations -- parents feel especially vulnerable when employers are thinking about who to make redundant.” Ends Media Enquiries: Notes to editors
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