Hackney Play Bus to receive £9,101 Pic: hackneyplaybus.org

This Friday, London will play host to the 31st Children in Need event. Organisations across Croydon, Lewisham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets have received over £850,000 from the charity in recent years, enabling their continued work in the area today.

For every charity bake sale, cycle ride, raffle, concert and sponsored event taking place along the East London Line in the run up to Friday’s televised fundraising appeal, there are scores of individuals who are directly aided by the funding.

As well as providing assistance for children in underdeveloped nations, the charity also underscores the needs of those a lot closer to home, and devotes substantial amounts of funding every year to improving the lives of children and young people suffering in our own country.

EastLondonLines visits some of the diverse organisations and projects in the area that have been awarded part of last year’s Children in Need grant:

Off The Record Youth Counselling, Croydon. An expanding project providing support and activities for young carers with parents who are experiencing mental health difficulties. £83,544. http://www.offtherecordcroydon.org/counselling.htm

Osmani Trust, Tower Hamlets. Advising and mentoring vulnerable young women of Bangladeshi origin from low-income families, helping them to build confidence and self-belief. £41,802. http://www.osmanitrust.org/

Hackney Playbus.  Set Up in 1972, this service is run from two brightly painted double-decker buses, both fully converted for early years play, giving children in east London somewhere safe to play and helping them to access local services. £9,101. http://hackneyplaybus.org/

Bengali International. A multi-culture, multi-racial and multi-faith organisation committed to upholding principles of democracy, secularism and co-existence. They aim to help the sick, disadvantaged and victims of natural calamities and promote social reconstruction and nation-building efforts and work for world peace. £9,660. http://www.bengaliinternational.org/

Crossroads Care Croydon. Through the provision of a youth club and support for trained carers, this project helps children and young people who have learning disabilities to socialise with their peers, develop their social skills and gain independence. £28,462. http://www.croydoncrossroads.org.uk/

Somali and Somaliland Lewisham Community. Through the provision of classes, this project helps children and young people who are struggling at school to improve their numeracy, literacy and increase their self confidence. £27,600. http://www.cdrex.com/somali-and-somaliland-london-community-ltd-3435732.html

Carers Lewisham. Offers a mentoring and support programme for young carers, in order to develop their self esteem. £119,161. http://www.carers.org/local-centre/lewisham

East London Out Project. A charity providing support to east London’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Services include community safety projects, social and support groups and young people’s services which include issues of domestic violence. £26,274. http://www.elop.org/

Shoreditch Youth Network. A consortium of youth providers for art, bicycle maintenance and sports sessions to disengaged young people aged between 11 and 24 who have a wide range of needs and are from low income families. £75,726. http://shoreditchyouthnetwork.giving.officelive.com/default.aspx

East London Bangladeshi Parents and Families Forum. A programme of tailor-made activities, advice and mentoring for vulnerable Bangladeshi girls and young women from low-income families in and around Tower Hamlets. It aims to help them build confidence and self-belief. £44,850. http://www.charitiesdirect.com/charities/east-london-bangladeshi-parents-and-families-forum-1090607.html

Lewisham Youth Theatre. A theatre company that believes that participation in theatre leads to the development and empowerment of young people. They guarantee that this opportunity is available to all young people in Lewisham and that no-one should be excluded because of economic or social background. The programme now includes drama workshops, education outreach and Saturday morning children’s theatre, as well as a core youth theatre productions. £48,298. http://lewishamyouththeatre.com/

Hackney Music Development Trust. Working in schools and communities to provide performance arts programmes for young offenders, children in care, and those living in deprived areas. £53,000. http://www.hmdt.org.uk/

Waggy Tails Club, South Croydon. An after-school dog activity club for young people aged between 13 and 22 who have learning disabilities. It helps them to develop social skills and meet other people who share their passion for dogs. £6498. http://waggy.glencomm.com/

Home-Start Croydon. Offers a unique service to families by recruiting and training volunteers, who are usually parents themselves, to visit families at home who have at least one child under five, offering them informal, confidential and friendly support. £22,386. http://www.croydon-homestart.co.uk/

Immediate Theatre Ltd. A Hackney-based project that runs a youth theatre and a six-week theatre programme for children with economic, social and cultural disadvantages. The project provides a stage on which to perform and the confidence to have their voice heard. £62,225. http://www.immediate-theatre.com/

Action for Refugees in Lewisham. Works to encourage young refugees to integrate into British society, especially with regards to their education. It provides learning support in English and maths and creative writing, as well as sporting events. £34,932. http://www.afril.org.uk/

Yismach Moshe Community Group, Hackney. A project providing a 12-day summer holiday for boys up to the age of 15 from low-income Orthodox Jewish families. £10,000. http://www.charitiesdirect.com/charities/yismach-moshe-community-group-1080336.html

Roma Support Group. Supporting Roma children in East London by encouraging them to attend school and providing after-school activities to improve their self-esteem and confidence. They mobilise the community through volunteering schemes and promoting an understanding of Roma culture in the UK. £80,962. http://www.romasupportgroup.org.uk/

Reachin Higher. A youth organisation for Creative Arts Summer Academy for disadvantaged young people in Croydon. Activities include personal social health and economic sessions, residential youth camps, creative arts groups, musical productions, sports and practical life-skill seminars. £9,170. http://www.reachinhigher.com/

Access to Sports Project. A community-led, sports activity project for boys and girls living in deprived parts of Hackney and Haringey. £79,469. http://www.accesstosports.org.uk/

For more information about these and other projects, or to find out more about fundraising for this year’s Children in Need, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/fundraising/faq.shtml