Edinburgh Students Charities Appeal
Edinburgh Students’ Charities Appeal is at the heart of charitable activities in Edinburgh’s’ vibrant student community.
ESCA started in 1867 when a group of Edinburgh University students got together and made a plan to do something about the conditions of abject poverty that surrounded the university.
They organised a collection of old clothes or rags from the wealthier parts of the city to help the poor and needy survive the winter months. This was the first student ‘Rag’. Since then ‘Rag’ has spread to almost every university and college in the UK, and has even reached as far a field as South Africa.
Throughout the last 138 years, many groups of students have got together and hatched a variety of plans to raise funds for local, national and international issues. With hundreds of students each year taking part in a wide variety of activities and events to raise funds for all manner of causes and charities, Edinburgh is one of the UK’s most successful student based charitable cities.
Contact
information@escaonline.org
www.escaonline.org
Phone: 0131 650 9517
Firefly International
Firefly International was founded in the aftermath of the Bosnian conflict and aims to facilitate reconciliation and reconstruction through running youth and arts projects such as summer camps and festivals. Firefly’s ethos is that for social change to occur it is important to build on existing social networks and to create new ones; the arts projects give children from different communities space in which they can make friends, develop their own interests and gain insight into other communities. Through this, networks of people’s friends, family and acquaintances are expanded and come to cross boundaries of race, nationality and language; this hopefully will lead to fostering a sense of mutual understanding and co-operation.
Contact
www.fireflyinternational.org
info@fireflyinternational.org
Firefly International
Potterow Student Centre
5/1 Bristo Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9AL
The Forest
The Forest is a not for profit café and arts and gallery space. It is available to all people and is staffed by volunteers and funded by the vegetarian café. The Forrest hosts a wide range of arts, cultural and political events and never charges for admission; in doing this the Forest aims to make the arts available to all.
Contact
The Forest
3 Bristo Place
0131 250 4538
Centre for Scottish Culture
Based in Perm, Russian Federation the Centre for Scottish Culture was founded in 1998 with assistance from Edinburgh University Settlement and continues to provide community based care projects for vulnerable children and young people.
LINKnet Mentoring Project
LINKnet Mentoring Project aims to increase participation of visible ethnic minorities in further education and employment. Their slogan is “its not where you are but where you want to be”. This is representative of their work in that the support given to participants in the projects allows both the mentors and the mentees to realise their full potential.
Contact
LINKnet Mentoring Project
31 Guthrie Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1JG
Beltane Fire Society (BFS)
BFS is a non-profit making community arts project based in Edinburgh. Funded by voluntary donations and grant awarding bodies it exists to widen public awareness of the Celtic lunar calendar fire festivals.
Contact
Braille-Net
Braille-Net continues to produce and distribute information in Braille about events in city theatres and by amateur theatre companies. Copies of all public documents are now sent to the Queen Alexandra Eye Pavillion so that patients awaiting treatment may have the option of Braille reading materials. Other Braille-Net ventures have included support given for new workshops for persons with vision impairment at the National Galleries of Scotland.
Contact
Eunice Smith
Potterow Student Centre
5/1 Bristo Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9AL
Watoto
Since 1992, Watoto has been rescuing orphans from life on the streets. More than just food and shelter, they focus on the total development of the child. The specific goal is to care for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of every child by providing food, shelter, education, health care, family life and family values. Watoto believes that with the right start in life these children will make a lasting impact upon the nation of Uganda.
Contact
Fay Benson
Phone: 07875199690
faycecily@hotmail.com
Non EUS Projects
Edinburgh University Settlement also maintains strong links with other projects including:
Midlothian Adult Resource Centre (MARC)
MARC has been in existence since 1982. Their object is to help the community and offer volunteers a chance to help in our activities.
The Objectives of the Centre are to further education and training of unemployed persons by providing them with the opportunity for voluntary work in the field of Social and Community Service; to relieve poverty and social distress caused by a lack of income or unemployment by means of:
- Offering information, advice and counselling to meet specific needs of the unemployed;
- Helping, advising and co-operating with organisations outwith the Midlothian area, in the setting up of other similar projects;
- Collection and dissemination of information for the purposes of encouraging more sustainable waste manager practices.
Contact
Midlothian Advice & Resource Centre
10 Woodburn Road
Dalkeith
Midlothian
EH22 2AT
Intra-Vires
Legal Services for Minorities
Contact
Intra Vires
13 Guthrie Street,
Edinburgh
EH1 1JG
0131 2263122
The University of Edinburgh Settlement is also extremely grateful to the University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy for providing themselves and their related institutions with space to carry out activities and meeting as well as providing support.