Northumberland community pub helping local children
09 Dec 2019 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
Kindhearted owners of the The Northumberland Arms pub in Bedlington, Neil and Fee Purvis, got in touch with the Northumberland Foster Care Team to offer help to local children and young people this Christmas.
While children in foster care receive presents from their foster carers and birth families; Children’s Services staff work with local businesses to give presents to children in the community who would otherwise go without this Christmas.
Neil said, “We wanted to offer some help to children in the local community, and saw a post about the Christmas appeal on social media. We know Christine, the manager of the Foster Care Team, as she regularly shares Facebook posts looking for new people to foster local children and young people, so we asked if we could help out.”
The Northumberland Arms offered to be a drop off point for Christmas presents, and they have generously donated £500 to help boost the fundraising pot to support children in need.
Christine Logan, foster care team manager at Northumberland County Council said, “Fee and Neil share our posts to help recruit new foster carers, and we are over the moon they got in touch to help children in the community this Christmas.
“Coincidentally, we have our next ‘Is fostering for me?’ event in Bedlington in January. We know people often think about a new worthwhile job role at this time of year, so they could come along to meet our recruitment officer Caroline and some foster carers to find out how they could help local children through working as a foster carer.
“If people are dropping off gifts at the Northumberland Arms they can also pick up a flyer for our event there.”
Cath McEvoy-Carr, executive director with responsibility for children’s services at Northumberland County Council said: “It is wonderful to see more local residents and businesses joining in with the Northumberland Christmas appeal.
“We are very grateful to the owners of the Northumberland Arms pub who are not only helping to secure gifts and donations for children in need but also helping us to raise awareness of the urgent need for more foster carers for local children and young people.“
Local residents can drop in unwrapped gifts at the Northumberland Arms in Bedlington until 15th December for children aged from babies to 17 years old. Children’s services staff will then collect the donations in their own time and distribute to local families.
The Bedlington “Is fostering for me?” event is an informal session which aims to help people decide if any of the types of paid foster care are right for them. It starts at 5.15pm on Thursday 16th January in the Bedlington Community Centre, Front Street West. Drop in on the night,call Caroline on 01670 62 62 62 for more information, or go online www.northumberland.gov.uk/foster