Charitable causes

Bectu members have a long track record of generous contributions to charitable work.

Ele Wade (Prospect Senior Vice President), Craig Marshall (Prospect President) with Chinua Johnson (WarChild partnerships executive)

Our 2018 conference emphasised the importance of international support and of action to create routes out of poverty.

The National Executive Committee has therefore committed to two new partnerships, with Trussell and War Child.

Both have a strong track record of delivery and are keen to work proactively with our union, both nationally and locally. There are also opportunities for members to get involved, either by participating in a fundraising event or volunteering at your local food bank.

We’re keen to share the news of your involvement in these charities. Please contact [email protected] to share your story.

Donate to our charity partners

Trussell

More than 14 million people are living in poverty in the UK.

Since Trussell was founded in 1997, the demand for emergency food has risen at an alarming rate.

Trussell supports more than 1,200 food bank centres in the UK to provide a minimum of three days’ nutritionally-balanced emergency food to people who have been referred in crisis, as well as support to help people resolve the crises they face.

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, its food bank network distributed 2.1 million three-day emergency food parcels to people in crisis, a 19% increase on the previous year. More than half a million of these went to children.

Trussell knows that it takes more than food to end hunger. That’s why it brings together the experiences of food banks in its network to challenge the structural economic issues that lock people into poverty, and campaigns to end the need for food banks in the UK.

On a local level, food banks in the network have had to expand the level of support they provide in order to keep up with the growing need from people facing poverty.

From running holiday clubs to budgeting courses, many of the food banks network are already providing more than food projects and building local connections to address the causes of poverty in their community.

War Child

Today, one in six children worldwide are living in conflict-affected areas.

During war, children lose their homes, their family, their friends and their childhood. Abduction, violence and recruitment into armed groups are just some of the challenges these children face.

War Child supports vulnerable children in conflict-affected places in the world. From providing access to juvenile justice for children in Afghanistan, to facilitating education for displaced families in northern Iraq or helping children who’ve been in armed groups in the Central African Republic reintegrate into communities, War Child is on the front line of some of the world’s most dangerous places.

Guided by the needs of children, War Child provides support in three ways:

• protection – providing safe environments for children to live, play and learn, and psychological first aid to help them overcome the trauma of conflict
• education – removing barriers to education and providing literacy and numeracy skills
• livelihoods – delivering life skills and business development training to vulnerable young people and their parents and siblings.

These interventions ensure that children not only survive the shock and devastation of conflict, but can begin a sustainable recovery, so that they can support the peaceful rebuilding of their communities.

In 2021, War Child reached more than 140,000 children affected by conflict.