Charity Support
- 4 Dundee’s Primary Kids Campaign – supports young children in Dundee living in the worst poverty and who desperately need your help
- It is estimated that 24% of children in Scotland live in poverty and in Dundee this figure is thought to be in excess of 30%. While schools do receive assistance from national and local government, they do not always have access to funds which allow them to react sufficiently quickly to those in immediate need.
- The campaign, jointly operated by the Rotary Club of Claverhouse and local Primary School Head Teachers and Staff over the last 2 years, is a long term project and will continue into the future
- The close collaboration between Rotary and Schools ensures that the poorest children in each school are given priority and provided with the critical support they individually need
- So far, the campaign has raised £18,000, spread over 10 schools, which has now all been used up. We urgently need your help to build more funds to support kids living in poverty during the rigours of the autumn and winter
How will your money be used?
Here are just a few examples:
- Providing fruit for break time snacks
- Breakfast clubs to provide a nutritious start to the day for pupils who arrive at school hungry
- Making winter jackets and boots available to youngsters whose parents can’t afford them
- Fuel/ energy top ups
- School foodbank contributions
How to raise money
You can raise sponsorship for 4 Dundee’s Primary Kids by going to our JustGiving page or download a sponsor form here.
Take a look at our Dundee Cyclathon Challenge Just Giving page to see how much we are all raising.
Feedback from schools that were supported
- Funds could be used immediately and directed to areas of need.
- Head teachers value greatly this support.
- It is important for recipient children to feel included and belonging.
- The school larder is now an essential requirement.
- Many children are refugees with no source of income whatsoever.
- Parents often suffer from ‘fuel poverty’ relying on fuel cards and resorting to emergency borrowing on the card resulting in constant arrears.
- One school has 76 new pupils all from outwith the UK. Those children were supplied with school branded tee shirts and fleeces.
- Support has been provided for homeless families evicted through debt or for other reasons.
- Often parents are too proud to ask for help: less so if they can choose clothing from the available selection held by the school.
- Valuable teaching time is lost through providing adequate welfare for needy pupils before lessons can begin.
Quotes from pupils and teachers
“The families who have benefitted from this have been incredibly grateful and can’t thank us enough” (head teacher)
“I love apples and we never have any fruit in our house, it’s too expensive mum says”(pupil)
“I cannot stress enough how grateful our families have been for this support and how proud the children feel when they receive their school fleece and tee shirt” (head teacher)
“It’s great to have something healthy to eat at break time” (pupil)
“It’s great to have cash readily available to respond to our children’s immediate and urgent needs” (head teacher)
“My mum was dead chuffed” (pupil)
There is no doubt that the fund uniquely addresses a serious and pressing issue and teachers were unanimous in their praise of and gratitude for the scheme.
Members of the Rotary Club were shocked by the severity of the needs described by the Head Teachers. As a result, the Club has decided to dedicate the whole of the proceeds of its 2024 Dundee Cyclathon (which last year raised in excess of £13,000) to the 4 Dundee School Kids cause for the school year 2024-25.
The Club has also decided to pursue closer links with Primary Schools in the most deprived areas of Dundee to explore how they might adopt the schools as the Club’s community with a view to providing even more support.
How to raise money
You can raise sponsorship for 4 Dundee’s Primary Kids by going to our JustGiving page or download a sponsor form here.
Take a look at our Dundee Cyclathon Challenge Just Giving page to see how much we are all raising.