Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative & Unionist MSP for Lothian, has written to The Scottish Government about the future of Edinburgh based charity Kindred which is facing a funding crisis.
The charity announced it would have to close some services from 1 October 2017 unless it raised funds urgently. It has launched a fundraising appeal to try and raise £40,000.
Sophie Pilgrim Director of Kindred issued this letter last week :
Dear parents, carers, grandparents, and friends of Kindred
I am very sorry to tell you that Kindred is facing a funding crisis due to loss of grants. We are looking at the potential closure of some services on 1st of October, including the Edinburgh ASL Helpline. Until we have secured funding, we may not be able to deliver the same level of service that you are used to.
The staff and I would like to apologise for any disruption. I am talking to all our funders and I hope that they will help to address our need for long term funding. We have launched a public appeal to raise £40,000 by the end of September and our press release is available on our website.
If you want to support Kindred please write to your Councillor and/or your MSP (you can find out who your MSP is here). At the end of this post you will find suggested letter templates. You can use these to write to your MSP and/or local councillors.
We would also be very grateful for contributions to our appeal – you can donate via JustGiving or get in touch with us if you would like to donate in other ways.
Thank you for your support and we will keep you updated with news of our appeal.Sophie
Sophie Pilgrim
Director
The parent-led charity supports families with disabilities and long term conditions and has a team based at the Sick Kids’ Hospital.
Speaking today Miles Briggs said: “In the last few days I have received many letters and emails from Lothian constituents who are deeply concerned about the future of Kindred and fear the loss of its services and its experienced staff members.
“ Many parents of disabled children have told me about the fantastic support their family has received from Kindred and the huge difference this has made to them while their child has been in hospital. It is clear that Kindred provides a very valuable service that benefits hundreds of families each year.
“ I have written to The Scottish Government asking them if there is any emergency or bridging funding that they can provide to help ensure Kindred can get through the next few months without reducing its services or cutting staff as it seeks to put its finances on a more secure long term footing.
“I hope that Ministers will do whatever they can to support the good work of this charity and avoid the loss of services or hardworking and knowledgeable staff members.”
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