Charity Archives - Page 3 of 3

At the reception desk in our landmark building, stands a nicely decorated bucket. The contents, just empty pens, but what happens to those pens is raising money that will then be donated to NSPCC and Childline.

By dropping off your empty pens, they can then be recycled for money, which can then go towards the fantastic work the charities do. The Bee Happy Campaign was started by two children, they are leading the way to sustainability and charity giving, and they started it all from their home.

The pen collection bucket is sat on reception at Millennium Point, if you have any empty pens don’t forget to bring them in and help make a change.

About ‘The Children’s BEE Happy Campaign’

Bazzie and Joshua, aged 7 & 5, won Morrisons Sheldon’s Little Sunshine award in 2020. But they didn’t stop there, they are now launching a campaign to collect and recycle pens and writing materials. The inspiring duo wanted to avoid them going into landfill and help the planet by periodically collecting them up from schools, businesses, and community. The pens are then collected and taken to Mel who is Morrison’s Community Champion who will then recycle them, and the money raised from doing this will go to NSPCC and Childline.

Every bucket will have Childline’s helpline number and designed by Bazzie and Joshua with facts about what animals have taught humans and what we can do to be kind to our planet.

They aim between January and June 2022 to get 102 buckets out collecting pens. The reason behind the number is in memory of Captain Tom who inspired them to start fundraising.

The boys campaign statement says ‘We hope you can support us by putting your pens in the buckets we put out, having a bucket or two off us or sponsoring us to get 102 buckets permanent homes in our communities and spreading the word together we can help our planet and vulnerable children too.

‘Our dot-to-dot smiley face will be on every bucket as it’s become our symbol of encouraging everyone to work together and join up the dots that way, we believe everyone can all ‘Bee Happy’ now and in the future’.

As an award-winning-charity, Millennium Point were happy to get involved

After hearing about why Bazzie and Joshua were collecting pens, we were eager to start collecting pens for them. Last month, we got to meet Bazzie, and after talking about the importance of recycling and helping charity, we were then left with the very hard decision of picking which designed bucket that would take residency in our reception area.

In fact, we even took two buckets, one for reception, the other now sits in Millennium Point’s office… we better start collecting!

Keep an eye out for the collection bucket on your next visit to Millennium Point, don’t forget to bring your empty pens too, together we can become more sustainable, while giving to charity in the process.

Want to learn more about Millennium Point?

Keep up to date the latest on our work through our blogs and charity section on our website.

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.

Two of the Midlands best-loved charities are coming together to test your limits in the ultimate battle of the elements. Acorns Children’s Hospice and LoveBrum have teamed up to bring a Fire and Ice Walk extravaganza to Birmingham next month.

The event on Friday 11 March, which is taking place at our landmark venue, Millennium Point, will see fearless fundraisers walk over hot coals or broken glass in aid of these two incredible causes.

Two great charities both helping the community

Zoe Baggott, Senior Manager for Area and Events, at Acorns, said: “We’re thrilled to join forces with LoveBrum to bring you the big Brummie bash you’ve all been waiting for. This your chance to do something amazing and help two local charities continue our work in the community.

“Acorns relies on money raised through events like this to fund our lifeline care and support for life limited and life threatened children. By joining #TeamFire or #TeamIce you’ll be helping us be there for every child and family that needs us.”

Once the Fire and Ice walks are complete, the evening will continue with celebrations, fun, food, and incredible entertainment – all in aid of Acorns and LoveBrum.

Rebecca Simkiss-Walker, Chair of LoveBrum, said: “The last 18 months have been extremely difficult for so many, and the charitable sector has been deeply affected by the pandemic. Yet, during this time of struggle at LoveBrum we have heard so many inspirational stories of those who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic to do what they can to help others in need.

“Now, with in-person events starting to make a comeback, and as we look to the future, we are thrilled to be working alongside the amazing team at Acorns Children’s Hospice to host the 2022 Fire and Ice Walk on the 11 March at the iconic Millennium Point.

“We look forward to welcoming our guests to the event, and with so much on offer, from great food vendors to family fun, there will be something for all the family to enjoy, all whilst raising vital funds for two local Charities who do so much for our region, ensuring we can carry on building a better Brum!

“The evening is set to be an amazing celebration of both our city and the power of collaboration, and a fun-filled experience for both spectators and participants alike – we can’t wait!”

About Acorn’s Children’s Hospice

Acorns Children’s Hospice provides specialist palliative care for life limited and life threatened children and support for their families from its three hospices, based in Birmingham, Walsall and Worcester, and in the community.

In the past year the charity has cared for more than 700 children and almost 1,000 families, including those who are bereaved.

It cost Acorns £27,000 per day to provides its lifeline care and support, the bulk of which comes from fundraising and donations.

About LoveBrum

LoveBrum is a registered charity that supports hidden gem projects across Birmingham that are often volunteer led and that deliver real change. The charity aims to support over 36 projects per year, and to reach out to all corners of the second city.

As an Award-Winning Charity, Millennium Point are thrilled to be involved

The Millennium Point team are excited to tackle the elements, this year choosing to be #TeamIce and brave the broken glass walk.

If you want to support the team, Millennium Point have set up a Just Giving page where you can donate to help continue the important work Acorn’s and LoveBrum do. Want to watch on the sidelines? The public can also buy tickets to cheer the team along, the night will include entertainment rom DJ TONi, magic, face painting and balloon modelling from Magic Party, as well as an amazing circus workshop from CircusMash.

Don’t forget, if you get a bit cold outside, join us inside and gaze at Luke Jerram’s breathtaking Gaia.

Join Team Ice or Team Fire and make a difference

Registration for each of the Fire and Ice walks is £40, with a minimum sponsorship requirement of £150. Included in the price is the daring walk of your choice, an exclusive event t-shirt, a fundraising pack and wristband for entry into the event village.

Spectator tickets, available on a first-come first-served basis, are £10. General entry is £5 for adults, children (under 16) are free.

To join #TeamIce or #TeamFire and for more information, please visit www.acorns.org.uk/fireandice2022

Christmas is the season of giving, and with so many fantastic charities to support this year, we’ve listed 5 below that are worth the charity spotlight this festive season.

UK Sepsis Trust & Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation

UK Sepsis Trust and Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation have decided to extend their Sepsis savvy awareness campaign to schools at the Schools and Academies Show in Birmingham. Developed in collaboration with education professionals, the new resources for all key stages, intended to help protect students and their families against this life-threatening condition associated with 1 in 5 deaths worldwide (11 million people – that’s 1 life every 3 seconds).

Carefully curated to each appropriate age group, the comprehensive Sepsis Savvy Schools lesson plans are informative and interactive, and include educational videos, teaching resources and an animation narrated by UKST’s ambassador, Harry Potter and Star Wars actor, Warwick Davis. The campaign is also supported by TV medic, Paediatrician and UKST Ambassador Dr Ranj.

St Basils

St Basils is a charity that work with young people ages 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, increase opportunities, and prevent homelessness.

This year St Basils planned their oldest and biggest sleepout in the UK in Birmingham. On Friday 3rd December, the event was held at a new venue, the versatile event space Millennium Point. Previously held at Birmingham Cathedral, the organisers hoped to fill it to capacity this year.

Due to last year and the pandemic, 2020’s sleepout was cancelled. Usually, the event raises over £100,000 so the organisers are hoping that this year’s is the bigger than ever. The aim was to appeal not only to the adventurous nature of people. But also, to their willingness to support young people with additional challenges of homelessness through these difficult times. You can find out more on this year’s event here.

Big Sleepout

Millennium Point Charitable Trust

Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning conference and events venue in the east side of Birmingham city centre. The charity use profits made by commercial activity being invested in projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) in Birmingham and the wider region.

Over the past 6 years MPT have given more than £25m back into the local region. They have previously seen the rewarding outcome of past projects such as Bishop Vesey Grammar School – STEM Robotics Club. South Bromsgrove High School had an insightful and imaginative project with their Automatic Weather Station. Millennium Point also saw a fantastic Sensory Garden achieved by City Road Primary School.

Millennium Point Trust are always looking for new partnerships to support STEM in the region.

Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity

Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity are passionate about improving patient experience for all the women and families at their hospital.

They are a centre of excellence, offering a rage of services to thousands of women, babies, and families every year. The hospital provides specialise care in five key areas: fertility, genetics, gynaecology, maternity, and neonatal.

They’re currently raising money for the Woodland House Appeal, they’re hospital cares for over 2,000 grieving mums and dads every year who have lost a baby. News is delivered in cramped ‘quiet’ rooms, often on the maternity ward or in a busy outpatient areas/ Woodland House would change this. It will be a brand new, purpose-built, centre away from the hustle and bustle of the main hospital. They have just £1 million left to raise, to make this a reality.

Aston Villa Foundation

Working alongside key local and national stakeholders, Aston Villa Foundation delivers projects, initiatives and provides opportunities to achieve its mission of ‘Working Together to Enrich Lives’.

The Foundation and its partners work with people from a variety of backgrounds in Birmingham as well as supporting the wider ‘Aston Villa family’ through several departments including schools, football in the community, disability, health and wellbeing, education, interventions, and community relations.

On Friday 3^rd December St Basils hosted their big sleepout at Millennium Point with the aim to raise funds to help end youth homelessness. The event previously hosted at Birmingham Cathedral moved to versatile event venue Millennium Point. Approximately 300 people joined up to do the sleepout to fundraise for the charity.

Due to last year and the pandemic, 2020’s sleepout was cancelled. Usually, the event raises over £100,000 so the organisers hope that this year’s is the bigger than ever. The event tries to appeal not only to the adventurous nature of people. But also, to their willingness to support young people with additional challenges of homelessness through these difficult times.

Homelessness shouldn’t be part of growing up

St Basils work with young people ages 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, increase opportunities, and prevent homelessness.

During April 2020 – March 2021, St Basils has been able to provide 3,860 young people with advice and support, 590 young people stayed with them every night. Not only this 92% of young people that stayed with St Basils moved on in a planned positive way.

A wealth of support to make the event a success

The event was also supported by projects and companies that made the evening a success.

Langar Aid, a project that that focuses on fighting hunger worldwide and provides vital food and water in emergencies, supplied curry and samosas to guests to warm up. The Band of the West Midlands Fire Service rose spirits by providing some tunes in a festive way. Salvation Army Cradley Heath knitted hats for the outreach team to give out, Campanile Hotels also donated thermal hats.

A team from Squire Patton Boggs, a global law firm, had the important role of handing out the cardboard boxes to guests. The boxes were kindly provided by the packaging manufactures Schumacher.

And of course, everyone that helped raise money and took part in sleeping rough for one night, so young people don’t have to.

As a charity ourselves, we were thrilled to be involved

Supporting young people improves the chances they have for their future. Helping provide a safe space, education and resources allows them to build better foundations for later life. As a strong supporter for education for STEM, Millennium Point wanted to take part.

A team from Millennium Point including CEO Abbie Vlahakis took part in the sleepout to help raise money for the life-changing charity St Basils.

So far Millennium Point have raised over £1,500, however we’re not finished yet! There’s still time to donate.

Couldn’t make it to the sleepout? You can still make a difference

It costs £5 a day to support a young person and keep them at a St Basils project. Supporters can make a one-off donation here. Help change a young person’s life for the better today.

Want to book an event space with Millennium Point?

The multi-award-winning Millennium Point has 17 versatile event spaces to choose from and an excellent events team to help you with your event.

For further information about the event, charity, or venue you can get in contact with our team.

Every year, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust Small Grants programme gives out grants of up to £20,000 to support science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) education projects in the West Midlands. We have funded many different projects across all areas of STEM supporting learning development for young students.

Here is another great example of the type of work we do and shows the power of what the grants funding can achieve for STEM organisations.

Who is Ark Tindal Primary?

Ark Tindal is a KS2 and 2 primary school for children aged 3-11 in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. They are part of the Ark Schools Network following transition in 2021.

Why did they apply for a Millennium Point grants?

The primary school had a disused outdoor space and wanted to enhance their STEM curriculum by transforming it. The area would support biology sessions of different topics from identifying plants to studying bug habitats and pond dipping.

The updated space would allow students to plan different types of scientific methods and processes to answer questions.. The science area would have a renewable zone where the children can learn about the environment.

What impact has the project made?

With the help of the grant the science area has enhanced the key learning in KS1 and 2 STEM subjects. Using the creative space students can see the practical applications of what they learn in the classroom.

Aesthetically, it gives the school a vibrant outdoor green space for students to explore. Ark Tindal students are also given the chance to learn the importance of sustainability and the environment around them. Some students wouldn’t have access to this type of space otherwise.

Ark Tindal Primary were ‘delighted’

Ark Tindal Primary said ‘We are delighted to have been awarded the Millennium Point Charitable Trust grant, as it will enable us to enrich the lives of our pupils through our vision of a STEM is driven learning environment. Over time, we envisage this benefitting the community as a whole and not just pupils attending our school. Throughout our curriculum, which is tailored to our pupils and their life experiences both now and in the future, we want them to understand that renewable energy and energy conservation is becoming increasingly important in everyday life as fossil fuel reserves start to wane. Through our science garden, we will entrench knowledge and appreciation of sustainable living in our pupils from an early age.’

Grants are now open!

Educators, Charities and Not-for-Profits within the West Midlands Combined Authority can apply for up to £20,000 from Millennium Point to fund their STEM activity. Over the past five years, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust has awarded over £2 million to charities, not-for-profits, community groups and schools to further STEM education.

Applications for the STEM Grant Programme are now open and set to close at 5pm on 3rd December 2021. You can apply on our website here.

St Basils are back planning the oldest and biggest sleepout in the UK in Birmingham. On Friday 3^rd December, the event is now being held at a new venue, the versatile event space Millennium Point. Previously held at Birmingham Cathedral, the organisers are hoping to fill it to capacity this year. The event will be held from 6pm till 6am and £10 to take part.

Due to last year and the pandemic, 2020’s sleepout was cancelled. Usually, the event raises over £100,000 so the organisers are hoping that this year’s is the bigger than ever. The aim is to appeal not only to the adventurous nature of people. But also, to their willingness to support young people with additional challenges of homelessness through these difficult times.

You can register for the event here.

Helping the future engineers, doctors, and computer scientists of tomorrow

Abigail Vlahakis, the CEO of Millennium Point said “It is a pleasure to support the important work St Basils achieves every year in tackling youth homelessness. Young people, many of whom have not engaged in education, training, or employment, are feeling abandoned by our society. However, with a little support, these very same young people could be the engineers, doctors and computer scientists of tomorrow which drive our local economy forward. Millennium Point is determined to raise awareness for this issue and proud to be working alongside the brilliant and passionate team at St Basil’s to end youth homelessness.”

(L: Jean Templeton – CEO of St Basils, M: Abbie Vlahakis – CEO, Millennium Point, R: Professor Paul Cadman, St Basils Board Member)

Homelessness shouldn’t be part of growing up

Jean Templeton, CEO of St Basils said “St Basils aims to help prevent youth homelessness in the West Midlands, advising and assisting over 4000 young people at risk of homelessness each year, housing over 1000 and supporting some 750 young people at any one time. We don’t believe that homelessness should be part of growing up for any young person and the money raised from this event will go towards ensuring young people feel cared about and have a safe, decent and affordable home and trusted, skilled support to enable them to develop their skills and confidence and move on with their lives.’

Challenge yourself and make a difference

The Big Sleepout sees hundreds of people from companies, families and groups taking part by challenging themselves, raising money and having fun; particularly in the much coveted ‘creative shelter competition’ with carboard provided yet again by long-time supporters Schumacher packaging.

Barrie Hodge, Head of Fundraising and Communications at St Basils said “We get regulars and people who are doing it for the first time, all helping each other on the night, and it makes for a great atmosphere. The creativity that some people put into the creative shelter challenge is truly amazing and we recognise that with prizes on the night. But despite the fun people have at the Big Sleepout we never lose sight of why we are doing it in the first place. All money raised will help services tailored to support young residents to build confidence and gain skills, and training and employment to ensure they can break the cycle of exclusion and homelessness. We need the support of our local communities and businesses to ensure we can create a brighter future for Birmingham’s young people”

Can’t make it to Millennium Point, you can still make a difference

St Basils will also be running ‘The Big Sleepout from Home’ at the same time. So, if you can’t make it to Millennium Point, you can still get involved in your back garden, office, community hall or ‘sofa surfing’ at home.

You can find out more and apply for your Big Sleepout pack by emailing [email protected].

Supporters can also make one off donations here, it costs £5 a day to support a young person and keep them at a St Basils project.

Want to book an event space with Millennium Point?

The multi-award winning Millennium Point has 17 versatile event spaces to choose from and an excellent events team to help you with your event.

For further information about the event, charity, or venue you can get in contact with our team.