The past couple of years I've been seeing lots of adverts for raising funds through gaming, for charity. I recently started streaming to Twitch and thought this would be a better time than any! 

What's happening and when? 

So, I will be streaming LIVE for 24 HOURS, Saturday the 20th of February at 9 am (GMT), right through to Sunday the 21st (9am)! If you'd like to get involved; donate, play a few games of Call of Duty with me, chat in the stream to keep me company, or even just hang around watch the stream or share it, anything will be appreciated! I'd love to get as much exposure to the stream so we can generate as much as possible for this amazing cause! 

Why Barnardo's? 

First off, the reason I chose Barnardo's; the morning after I decided to do this charity stream, I turned the news on and heard about the impact child care has had, due to COVID. Barnardo's UK experienced an increase of 57% in children entering their care, between 2019 and 2020. Additionally, my mother was part of Barnardo's when she went into care as a baby and so donating to them has always been important to her and us as a family. 

- Barnardo's supports families and kids in need, with a strong focus on assisting young people struggling with their mental health.

- Barnardo's is the largest national children's charity in the UK 

- They support more than 350000 children, young people and carers across the UK 

- Over 80% of their frontline staff are supporting someone with an increase in mental health issues linked to Corona virus 

So many young people experience issues with their mental health and or feeling alone, gaming has always been a great way for me to feel better about those things, so please help me do what makes me happy to help others feel the same way! 

What can our money do? 

£5 can provide children with art therapy to express themselves in a non-verbal way 

£10 can provide crafting equipment for a child to create their own calm box, helping them manage their emotions 

£25 can pay for books to be used in therapeutic books to be used in counselling sessions with young people 

£50 can pay for frontline staff to deliver an hour of face-to-face counselling 

£75 can pay for an initial mental health assessment for one young person 

£100 can fund resources needed in a specialist counselling room 

*£180 can pay for fees for a case worker to give life-changing practical support and safety advice to SEVEN young people affected by sexual exploitation 

£1000 can pay for a full day of training for 25 professionals so they can spot warning signs of sexual exploitation and help children escape dangerous relationships 

* This one really stuck out to me when I was doing some reading into what amount can help with what at Barnardo's, if I could raise £180 it would be phenomenal! 

To finish up 

I just want to add that Covid has affected so many people and families financially, IF you want to/can give please do and do so with an amount you can manage, any donation is extremely appreciated. BUT, please do not feel pressured, so many of us have faced financial difficulties through this period, so feel free to support in different ways,  join the discord and chat to everyone getting involved, drop by in the stream and keep me company, 24 hours is a long time to be sat online with dead air! I'll be doing all sorts of fun challenges to try to make the stream a bit more entertaining and to raise more funds! 

Twitch link, for stream - www.twitch.tv/ntan023 

Discord link, for anyone wanting to link up and play a few games during the stream or just to chat and hear updates on what's going on/what challenges are running - https://discord.com/invite/mJPGcUNeEb?fbclid=IwAR1BCtaN00A_UE_JtmA26JRG0rd25bOhPqELXopsBGVIm78oxNP3WW1JtHc

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you drop by in the stream!