00:00I'm it's Charlotte Farrington and I am the chief exec and founder of Yorkshire
00:03children's charity. I'm here in our warehouse at Thorpe Arch today where we
00:07have got nearly 40,000 basic essential items that will be going out to
00:12somewhere between two and a half and three thousand children across the
00:15region. In terms of how we have assessed children and for support this year we're
00:21not even touching the sides in terms of poverty. We are only helping those
00:25children deemed to be living in destitution by government guidelines. In
00:30these bags we have got duvets, pillows, sheets, duvet covers, pajamas, school
00:38shoes, coats, everything that a child needs to ensure that they can firstly get a
00:43good night's sleep and secondly that they can arrive at school warm, dry and ready
00:47to learn which is the core purpose of this campaign for us. We as the Yorkshire
00:52children's charity are such an advocate for the incredible teachers that we
00:55have across the region and you know we see every single day teachers having to
00:59buy the most basic essentials out of their own money. Nappies for children in
01:03their care just you know underwear, socks, that situation just shouldn't have to
01:11exist. You know one of the the wealthiest countries in the world this level of
01:15support shouldn't be needed but that doesn't negate the fact that it very much
01:19is. I was just so blown away by the scale of it that I decided that I'd like to get
01:26more involved on a permanent basis so I now volunteer sort of once a week-ish so I
01:31just go into the office, do bits of admin or come to events like this, help at the
01:37outdoor events, sports days, Christmas parties etc. You can see the scale of the
01:43amount of kids that are in need and I think that's what really impacted me
01:48initially because I've got my own children so when you walk into a
01:51warehouse like this and you see that there's so many children that need help
01:55I think that really hits you quite hard. From a teacher's perspective you know to
01:59see a child and you know continuously presenting at school without the basic
02:04essentials that they need and you know is is really distressing that's not
02:09something that you can leave at the gates at half past three. We dropped last year
02:15coats off at a school in Leeds, we were then contacted 24 hours later by them to
02:20ask if we could go back with duvets as the children had come into school talking
02:24about how warm their coats had been to sleep under that they had just been given.
02:29We've had children taking it in turns to share pairs of school shoes and
02:34and to go to school. It's very hard to comprehend that behind all of these things
02:39here you know there are two and a half thousand very sad stories. The majority
02:43of families that we try to support are families that are trying their absolute
02:46best but realizing that their best just isn't enough. When everyone comes
02:50together and just does a little bit actually making sure that 3,000 children
02:55can be warm this winter means an awful lot and I think that's something
02:58collectively as a region we should be very proud of.
