The Children's Centre

In 2019 Manx charity, The Children’s Centre, was awarded £25,000 from the Manx Lottery Trust’s Island Community Fund to help fund the conversion of its farm site to solar energy.

The ‘Sustainable Power’ project involved the installation of dozens of solar panels to assist the charity in converting from fossil fuels to sustainable technologies and solar. One year on from the system’s installation and not only has the charity benefited from significant cost savings but planted 100 trees on its grounds and scooped a win at the UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man Award in the category for ‘Energy’. With a continued commitment to the environment, the project has also played a significant role in educating the young people that utilise the charity’s services about long-term sustainability.

In 2021, the Trust also supported the charity with its ‘Catch Me If You Can’ project, awarding a grant of £50,000 to help fund the initiative, which provided the charity’s young clients with an alternative provision to classroom learning.

The project assisted secondary school children who struggled with traditional classroom learning - providing them with a variety of educational and activity-based experiences, suited to all types of minds. Activities included mountain biking, cooking, virtual reality, arts and crafts, horticulture, storytelling, construction projects, archery, metal working, alternative therapies, coasteering, and conservation work to name but a few, with Trust funding supporting all experiences.

The Trust’s grant subsequently led to the charity securing funding from prominent UK-based charity, BBC Children in Need. The Children’s Centre is one of a handful of Manx charities to attract such funding and served to reinforce the fantastic work the local charity has done for the Island’s younger community over the years.

The Children’s Centre pioneers a variety of community initiatives and therapeutic intervention services which enable children, young people, and families to realise their full potential. As an independent registered Manx charity, funding a bespoke one-to-one service provision for dozens of children and their families poses one of the biggest challenges for The Children Centre. The annual running cost of the centre is circa £850,000, and relies upon fundraising, public donations, grant making trusts and support from partners.

The charity is keen to develop the ‘Catch Me If You Can’ project further, along with a number of other initiatives, and is hopeful that such high-profile backing will help them to secure further funding in the future.

Joff Whitten, Chief Executive Officer at The Children's Centre, commented: ‘The Children’s Centre is very grateful to the Manx Lottery Trust for their support over the years, helping us to bring projects including ‘Sustainable Power’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can’ to life. These initiatives along with our core service provision have helped hundreds of children, teens and families across the Island build brighter futures.

‘I’d also like to extend my gratitude to the Manx public, whose generosity never ceases to amaze me. A third of the charity’s funding comes from public donations, and without their support, none of this would be possible.’

Did you know anyone can make a referral to the Children’s Centre? To find out more, head to https://www.thechildrenscentre.org.im/refer-to-us