Nasc, Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre have been awarded €70,000 from the Toy Show Appeal grants for 2022 by the Community Foundation of Ireland.

Nasc, Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre have been awarded €70,000 from the Toy Show Appeal grants for 2022 by the Community Foundation of Ireland.

Nasc’s New Beginnings project in Cork is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant of €70,000 over 12 months by the RTE Toy Show Appeal. This grant will fund our work with newly arrived refugee children and families including those reuniting through family reunification, exiting direct provision or fleeing the war in Ukraine and will help to change these children’s lives for good.

Our New Beginnings Project will provide a mixture of social work and practical supports to ensure that refugee children have a stable, safe and secure home in Ireland. We work to prevent homelessness, alleviate poverty, support education and ensure that children are fully able to essential services and integrate into life in Ireland.

We were honoured last year that our pilot project received funding from the inaugural RTÉ Toy Show Appeal. With the additional funding this year, we will now be able to expand the project to work directly with eighty children. We will ensure that children’s basic needs such as housing, food, education, language, mental and physical healthcare are met and pave the way for refugee children and their families to thrive and succeed in their new lives in Cork.

Fiona Hurley, Interim CEO comments,

We are absolutely over the moon to receive this funding from the Toy Show Appeal. We have seen the life-changing impact that this project has had on the children and families we were able to work with in the pilot phase of the project last year and we are thrilled that we are able to continue this work into 2023. Our project is working with the most vulnerable families and our interventions have helped prevent homelessness and destitution and given stability to children and their families.

Hurley continues, "We’re currently facing huge challenges as more children than ever in Ireland are here having fled for their lives with their families. While we plan to work directly with eighty children, the project will have a greater impact across the city and county as we’re also able to equip other services to work with children who have experienced war or trauma." 

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

About RTE Toy Show Appeal Inspired by children, the RTE Toy Show Appeal works to bring the magic of the Late Late Toy Show to every child in Ireland. By funding essential support, health, well-being, play and creativity we aim to change children’s lives for good. The donations to the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal, are received and managed by registered charity, The Community Foundation for Ireland with whom we work in partnership.

For more information about The Community Foundation for Ireland, please see here: About Us | The Community Foundation

Given the level of public support for the Appeal, and with the ambition to help even more children, the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal will return for a third year and will be a part of the Late Late Toy Show on Friday 25th November 2022