KidsOut

KidsOut is a multi-faceted national charity based in Leighton Buzzard which provides a range of services to bring about positive change to thousands of underprivileged and vulnerable children situated all around the UK. They position themselves as "a charity based on actions rather than words”. Every year they help approximately 80,000 disadvantaged children, including over 20,000 children who with their mothers, have had to flee from their homes to escape domestic abuse and now live in one of approximately 650 refuges situated across the UK. These children will have witnessed or experienced, mental, physical or sexual abuse and often arrive in refuge traumatised and with no more than the clothes they are wearing. KidsOut provides each child with a box of new toys and books to help make the children feel welcome. In addition to toy boxes, the charity takes the children, plus thousands of other disadvantaged children on fun days out, including trips to the seaside, theme parks, zoos, and the cinema. Up to December 2023, KidsOut have taken nearly 1.1 million children out on fun days. Children may have come from difficult backgrounds, have been excluded from school, have a life-limiting disability or have been socially or rurally isolated. The charity is currently looking to develop arts, music, and sports programmes as part of its wider care services.

The CEO of KidsOut is Sara Williams. The charity is governed by a board of Trustees and is also supported by 18 Ambassadors and 2 Patrons, John Parrott and John Peters.

History
Lady Grantchester, of the Moore’s family and owners of Littlewoods, suggested to the Rotary Club in Kingston, where she lived, that they take disadvantaged children on a day out. She approached Peter Jarvis who, together with fellow Rotarians Graham Child and John Saxton, devised and promoted the concept of KidsOut. A deal was struck, and in 1990 the Kingston Rotary Club and Kingston Littlewoods store organised an outing for 200 children to go to Thorpe Park. The day was so successful that Lady Grantchester offered a one-off grant to any Rotary Club willing to take part in a similar event on the second Wednesday in June. Overnight 800 Rotary Clubs from all over the UK joined in and the National Rotary KidsOut Day was created. It immediately became the biggest single outing for disadvantaged children in the UK, with tens of thousands of children taken out each year.

Services
The KidsOut is a multi-faceted charity dedicated to supporting some of the UK’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable children with positive and happy experiences. Each year it delivers positive and fun experiences to the faces of up to 200,000 children, by way of day trips, toys and books to those who might otherwise have none.

The charity helps children by way of providing:

Toy Boxes
In collaboration with Women’s Aid, KidsOut supports in excess of 20,000 children a year who with their mothers have fled domestic violence and seek safety in refuges. The children will have either witnessed or experienced, emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse and will usually arrive in refuge with no more possessions than the clothes they are wearing. In 2023 KidsOut provided over 11,000 of these children with a box of age and gender appropriate brand-new toys and books to help the child’s transition into their new home

KidsOut is the only organisation in the UK to provide toys and books to every child in a Women’s Aid refuge.

Fun Days - Creating Positive Childhood Memories
Launched in 2012, Fun Days takes disadvantaged and vulnerable children from across the UK on a fun day out and helps them remember what it is like to just be children. Whether a trip to the theatre, or seaside, or a day at a theme park, Fun Days gives the children with them something fun to look forward. Importantly it creates new, happy, and positive childhood memories.

Since the start of the project, over a Million children have gone on a Fun Day. While KidsOut supports children from a range of backgrounds, including those living with life limiting conditions, in economic hardship or with a disability, some of our most vulnerable beneficiaries are children that have fled domestic abuse for the safety of a refuge. Having experienced domestic violence either directly or witnessed it repeatedly at home, these children live with many emotional and economic challenges. KidsOut is the only national children’s charity focusing directly on their needs and working to bring fun and happiness back into their lives.

The National Rotary Day Out
Every June, the Rotary Organisation throughout Great Britain and Ireland together with KidsOut takes between 20,000 and 25,000 disadvantaged children on a fun day out where they may visit the seaside, theme parks, adventure playgrounds, and zoos.

The Giving Tree Shop
The charity's famous Giving Tree - Fun & Happiness Shop was established in 2008 and gives individuals, companies, and schools, the opportunity to buy a toy or fun experience for a vulnerable child or children throughout the year. At Christmastime the charity ensures that every child in a Women's Aid refuge receives toys or gifts to open on Christmas morning.

Multi-Sensory Rooms and Units for Children with Complex Needs
KidsOut provides multi-sensory units for organisations and schools looking after children with complex needs. This type of learning has been proven to improve speech and language development, communication skills, memory and comprehension, and can have a positive impact on children’s behaviour and development.

Food Vouchers
The charity also provides food vouchers for mothers with children living in refuges. The vouchers help the mothers create an environment of normality for their children and give them the opportunity to buy treats which they would otherwise not be able to afford. Mothers' report of saving the vouchers for treats on children’s birthdays and for Christmas.

Word Stories - free access to digital books from around the world
In 2017, KidsOut established World Stories, a free-to-access, growing collection of 175 traditional and original stories from around the world representing the 32 most commonly spoken languages by children in the UK. Currently one in seven UK children speaks a language other than English as their first language, often struggling to learn in an unfamiliar language and environment. World Stories is an online resource that helps children improve their literacy and keep up in the classroom. With more than 100 stories in written and audio format, World Stories opens the world to children.

2023 Summary
In 2023 KidsOut provided; 115,946 Toys and Christmas Presents to Disadvantaged Children (excludes toy boxes) 57,774 Fun Days 20,174 National KidsOut Rotary Days Out (308 Clubs, 620 Schools, 100 attractions) 15,159 World Stories sign-ups (13,392 Teachers 1,767 Non-Teachers 76,528 in total) 11,203 Toy Boxes for children in Refuge (112,030 toys in total) 5,593 Food Vouchers for Summer, Christmas, Easter holidays when no free meal access 1,000 School uniforms 191 Laptops to help children with their schoolwork at their refuge 175 World Story Books (now 175 in total) 85 Tablet computers