Give a Child a Chance

Give a Child a Chance help Plymouth children and adolescents with emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties. We award grants to families, community groups and organisations for equipment, transport, building work and activities – anything, in fact, that makes a positive difference to children’s lives.

How it all started

In 2005, The Plymouth Herald and The Plymouth and South West Co-operative Society Ltd teamed up to raise funds for Happy Hospitals for children in the Plymouth area. The appeal was called ‘Give a Child a Chance’. The name immediately struck a chord with the public and the cause proved very popular. Over the past five years, with the help of the newspaper, volunteers and local businesses we’ve raised more than £200,000 for projects that help young people with mental health needs.

Small sums, big impact

2010 saw a relaunch. We’re now a registered charity reaching out to the community, offering small- to medium-sized grants to projects on a very local, even family level. Rather than fund larger scale, more ambitious (and often bureaucratic) projects, we passionately believe that modest sums targeted very specifically can be highly effective. The idea is to make a big difference to the lives of the people we help.