Big Hearts Community Trust have hosted their 2017 Annual General Meeting, sharing their latest successes that will help the charity achieve ambitious plans for 2018.
The event welcomed Big Hearts volunteers and partners, Heart of Midlothian fans, along with leaders from the third sector and representatives of local authorities.
After a record breaking year, where Heart of Midlothian Football Club’s official charity partner extended its range of support to even more families in need, Big Hearts intends to develop new areas of support to help those identified as most vulnerable, with a new focus on reducing social isolation across all generations in the community.
This October, Big Hearts received the ‘Investing in Volunteers’ Award – the UK quality standard for good practice in volunteer management – becoming the first football charity in Scotland recognised by the prestigious accreditation.
Big Hearts also announced the appointment of a new Trustee: Pamela Scott, who currently holds an executive position in the global company Diageo. Ms Scott joins Big Hearts’ existing Board members – Ann Budge, Lawrence Broadie, David Sellar, Tim Gardner and Billy Watson – bringing her valuable senior experience in strategic management and fundraising.
Three years into Big Hearts’ journey to support families in need, the charity aims to help even more people identified as vulnerable, with a focus on reducing social isolation across all generations. The first initiative under this new strategy was rolled out after the summer, offering weekly activities to young people from multicultural backgrounds or families recently arrived in Edinburgh.
The T.E.A.M project – Together Equality Achieves More – is run in partnership with the Edinburgh charity Multi-Cultural Family Base. Over 15 children from the local primary schools are benefiting from the initiative, with additional referrals in progress. Big Hearts will detail their 2018-2021 strategic plan in the next months.
If you would like to get involved with Big Hearts, more information can be found here.
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