Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity Event raises £107k for ‘Sick Kids’
On Friday, we were honoured to attend the #GetTogether for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) to support all of the amazing and important work that the charity does for seriously ill children and their families. We were blown away by some of the stories that were shared at the event by parents and doctors and could not be prouder of all that the charity achieves.
The event was bursting with life thanks to some delightful live entertainment from the children, featuring some gorgeous dancing from Sammy and Lucy the enchanting Evan and an emotional story from the mother of baby Hector the Hero, who are all currently doing well. The charity's CEO, Roslyn Neely, and her team did a fantastic job planning this incredible event, raising an astounding £107,000 for the cause.
The Edinburgh Children’s Hospital
The ECHC helps critically ill babies, children and young people by supporting their medical care, mental health and family’s wellbeing. The hospital team delivers daily arts activities, youth work and family support; their Grants Programme funds child-friendly spaces and play initiatives, life-changing equipment and bereavement support.
This exceptionally vital work the charity carries out means that fundraising events, like the #GetTogether, are crucial for raising sufficient funds to support the families facing the toughest of times.
Here to Help
Some children spend more time in hospital than they do out of hospital. This means they are unable to attend school and they need to complete their education in hospital. Fonetti are currently working closely on a pilot with the ECHC to adapt our read aloud app so that it can be used by children in hospitals. We want all children, no matter their circumstances, to have the opportunity to delve into books and experience the joy of reading.
Reading & Children’s Mental Health
Reading has so many benefits for children and supporting their mental health is one that we feel is the most important. Books not only allow children to escape into another world and develop imagination and curiosity, they also support children with understanding tricky emotions and help them to process how they are feeling.
If a child can relate to a character in a book, who is in a similar position to them, it can help them navigate the challenges they may be facing and feel understood. Books are a great way to get children talking about their feelings without making them feel overwhelmed.
The Book Trust explains, 'Books can be a vehicle for the discussion for pertinent topics. Books with emotional stories, for example, can provide explicit opportunities for a child and their carer to discuss painful issues but with the emotional safety of being one step removed. They can talk about the characters and events in a book without having to refer directly to themselves.'
National Read Aloud Challenge
The National Read Aloud Challenge has partnered up with Fonetti over the summer, making hundreds of books on the Fonetti in app library completely free until 31st August. We want all children to have access to books over the summer so that if they feel they need to escape into a story, they can.
