Pooled pennies help BBC Children in Need support children suffering with bereavement

Next Friday, 14th November, will see BBC Children in Need’s annual Appeal Night return to our screens, and with it a chance to find out how donations made over the past year have been making a difference to children and young people across the UK.

BBC Children in Need works 365 days a year to help thousands of projects, meaning donations are needed all year round too.  Thankfully, customers booking holidays with Monarch Airlines and Cosmos Holidays and shopping at branches of DFS continue to donate in their tens of thousands via Pennies, just 50p at a time.  These pennies add up to help make a difference for children like Isabel:

Isabel was just three years old when her father died.  At the time, she was too young to comprehend what had happened.  But not long afterwards her grandmother passed away too, meaning two people she loved were instantly gone from her life.

Though Izzie seemed fine at the time, when she started having night terrors a few years later, her mother Liz was, of course, concerned.  She began searching for the right kind of help and found local bereavement support charity Nelson’s Journey, based in Norfolk.

Funded by BBC Children in Need, Child Bereavement Services Manager Debbie arranged valuable one-to-one support sessions for Izzie, followed by a trip to a therapeutic camp.  While Izzie spent two activity-filled days with other children who had also been bereaved, her mum went on the equivalent trip for adults.

After the experience, Liz was finally able to explain that most difficult of things to Izzie – that her father had taken his own life after battling with depression for some time.  It was just what both mother and daughter needed to move on.

£200 pays for a week of specialist counselling for children who have lost a parent to murder or suicide.  So far, those 50p donations made via Pennies have added up to over £20,000 for BBC Children in Need, meaning they can help hundreds of children and their families when they need it most.