We spend hours finding the perfect presents for our loved ones but how much thought do we give to other people and animals in our community?
The spirit of giving is alive and well in Courier Country, so this festive season, why not spread the joy a bit further by giving to these worthy causes. And, even better, it may actually serve two purposes – you can give a donation in someone else’s name as their gift.
Click on the headlines to visit the charities’ websites for more information.
Help kitties by donating, fostering or adopting with Dundee Cat’s Protection
Dundee Cat’s Protection provides a temporary home for unwanted cats; some are strays but most come to them because their owners can no longer look after them, they may have moved, been admitted to hospital or passed away.
Many are very distressed at giving up their pets and the team does their utmost to ensure that they find the best home for them.
All cats that go into the Dundee Adoption Centre are assessed for their personality and sent to the vet for a complete medical to ensure that they are healthy. All the cats are neutered, microchipped and vaccinated before they go to their new homes.
During their stay with Cat’s Protection, they have any essential veterinary work carried out and they will also receive at least the first vaccination.
All cats will be microchipped and, apart from kittens, will be neutered and assessed for personality. The home visitor will evaluate your needs and try to ensure that they find you your perfect partner. After all, they hope you’ll be together for a very long time!
Occasionally indoor cats are available but the majority of cats will need access to a garden.
Please note that the team is usually only able to accept or home cats in their own area, although they do work very closely with neighbouring branches.
Find your perfect cat at the Dundee Cat’s Protection website.
Give our furry friends a hand with Help for Abandoned Animals
Help for Abandoned Animals is a registered charity based in Dundee. It was founded by Isabella Arthur and a friend, who are now sadly deceased. They have carried on with the charity for the last 35 years as a small team comprised of a chairperson, secretary/treasurer, welfare officer and several committee members.
The charity has no financial backing so they rely on donations and fundraising to keep going. They take no payment for petrol phone calls etc and every penny raised goes directly to fund vet bills, helping pet owners with neutering and helping pet owners who are in financial need and cannot always afford vet bills.
They have also worked closely with Brown Street Kennels for the last 35 years and help them with vet bills and sometimes rehoming and placing ads in the local paper when needed.
Help for Abandoned Animals holds an AGM which is advertised in the local paper and would welcome anyone who is an animal lover to come and join the charity.
Find out more about the work of Help for Abandoned Animals on Facebook.
Support Mindspace’s work with people with mental health issues
Mindspace is a Perth-based mental health charity providing one-to-one peer support and adult and young people’s counselling services.
They also have two recovery colleges, which teach adults and young people about their mental health.
Mental health is frequently in the news and people are beginning to understand how serious an issue this is for individuals, families and communities.
Perth and Kinross has a higher than average number of psychiatric hospital admissions when compared to the rest of Scotland, so it is essential that small community based organisations like Mindspace exist.
Services are provided free of charge helping to address inequalities for those who cannot afford to pay for this vital support.
Mindspace provides this valuable service thanks to donations and grants. At this time of year they experience an even greater demand on their service – whilst for most of us Christmas is a time of happiness, when you are experiencing poor mental health it can be unbearable!
Please help them help the local community by making a small Christmas donation to Mindspace – every penny can help transform a life this Christmas time and quite possibly save a few too!
Make a donation at the Mindspace website.
Help the Dundee Blind and Partially Sighted Society offer lifelines
The Dundee Blind and Partially Sighted Society was founded in 1879 and is a local independent charity providing services to the citizens of Dundee and surrounding areas, with members from Dundee, Monifieth, Carnoustie, Arbroath and from across the bridge in Fife.
The charity’s vision statement is to work towards a world where all people who are blind or partially sighted enjoy the same rights, opportunities and responsibilities as everyone else.
They provide a wide range of services to people with a visual impairment who reside within Dundee and the surrounding areas. And they also offer a full social activities timetable throughout the year including bingo, lunch club, a Reminiscence Group, armchair aerobics, line dancing, choir and even popular indoor games sessions, where the members get to try indoor kurling, darts, putting and archery.
The weekly outings are also very popular, especially the mystery tours. DBPSS can even provide door-to-door transport.
DBPSS recognises that the social activities offered are a vital lifeline to its members. It offers them an opportunity to meet and engage with their contemporaries, participate in group outings and share experiences.
They also have trained staff who can give Low Vision Assessments for those that are requiring magnifiers to help them read and the well-stocked Resource Room is also full of useful aids which can help independent living.
Find out more, including contact information, at the DBPSS website.
Help Montrose Community Trust make changes through sport
Montrose Community Trust, formerly known as Links Park Community Trust, uses the power and widespread appeal of sport, but in particular football, to inspire change.
Through a range of innovative, community-benefitting programmes, the charity engages with well over 1000 participants every week, from the age of one-year-old to adults in their 90s.
Within their Community Sport strand, MCT provides recreational and developmental football opportunities for all ages, abilities and aspirations. Their pre-school ‘Links Park Mini Dribblers’ programme provides a fun introduction to football, whilst their Walking Football initiative allows men and women to regain their love of the beautiful game, albeit a slowed down version.
Montrose Community Trust has received local, national and international acclaim for their award-winning Education and Employability programmes. Using football as the context, MCT delivers a range of innovative projects, which raise attainment and achievement amongst local school pupils in the areas of health, numeracy, literacy and science.
Within their Health & Wellbeing department, they have developed and now deliver an extensive range of programmes that address local identified needs. Such initiatives support those living with dementia, older adults living in isolation, people with mental health issues, and those recovering from harmful addictions, to name just a few areas of work.
MCT, formerly Links Park Community Trust, was named ‘Social Impact Business of the Year’ at the Dundee Courier Business Awards in 2016, and through their relationship with Montrose Football Club, were crowned ‘Best Professional Club in the Community’ by the Scottish FA in 2017.
For more information on the work of the trust visit their website.
Fundraise for Maggie’s Dundee and help people with cancer and their loved ones
Maggie’s Dundee provides free practical and emotional support for people with cancer, and their families and friends, in Tayside and Perthshire. They offer an evidence-based programme of support, which has been shown to strengthen physical and emotional wellbeing.
The centre is a warm and welcoming place built in the grounds of Ninewells Hospital, where professional staff are on hand to offer practical advice about all aspects of living with cancer, from benefits advice to nutritional information.
It is a safe space where qualified staff can give emotional support and people can meet others in a similar situation to them, to talk around the kitchen table or simply sit quietly with a cup of tea.
Maggie’s relies on voluntary donations from supporters to grow their network of centres and to develop unique, high quality programme of support. Their aim is to make the biggest difference possible to people living with cancer and their family and friends.
If you would like to fundraise for Maggie’s Dundee contact Victoria Bongiorno, centre fundraising organiser, at victoria.bongiorno@maggiescentres.org or call 01382 496384.
Help support children with cancer or leukaemia
Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia (TCCL) has been providing quality support to families with children who suffer from cancer or keukaemia since being founded in 1994.
The diagnosis of cancer or leukaemia in a child causes tremendous stress for families who struggle physically, practically, emotionally, and financially with the intensive, intrusive treatment regime and the inevitable disruption it brings to family life.
More often than not, one parent may have to give up work to care for the child in hospital – at a time when they are faced with significant extra expenditure. This is where TCCL aims to help with:
- Psychosocial support
- Travel support
- Holiday support
They offer financial support in terms of travel grants to get parents to and from treatment if their child is in hospital away from home, and provide grants to families who need support to make family life easier.
They’ve provided everything from a new washing machine, to heating grants to keep children warm during the winter months, to driving lessons for a mum to help her get to the hospital.
TCCL can now offer much needed holidays in the new TCCL Lodge in St Andrews. Whatever families need, TCCL aims to support them.
