Our Vision

CHICKS vision is to give every disadvantaged child the opportunity to feel valued.

Childhood lasts for such a short time. It should be a time for laughter and learning, not a time of fear and isolation.

Imagine a place where children can run safe and free. Imagine a place where you have fun-packed adventures. Imagine having all the care and attention you could possibly need in one week. Imagine feeling valued. This is no imaginary place. This is the experience CHICKS provides to hundreds of disadvantaged children every year.

CHICKS camps run from March to December and on the final camp in 2009 CHICKS will have supported 7000 children since 1992 - a landmark we will all be very proud of! Our aim is to be able to provide fun, positive respite breaks for 1200 children, from across the country in 2010 at CHICKS two retreats in the beautiful West Country.

To achieve this we will need to be raising £1.4 million annually, by 2010. With the generosity of our supporters, and despite receiving no Government funding, we are determined to achieve this important goal.

The warmth, care and encouragement CHICKS is able to provide to children who have been abused, who live in poverty, who have been neglected, who live in care or who are themselves ‘child carers’, often bearing the extraordinary responsibility of caring for disabled or terminally ill relatives; has only been possible thanks to the valued generosity of CHICKS supporters across the UK.

Now, by supporting CHICKS ‘Making Memories’ Appeal, we would ask you to walk with us, as together we can help to bring laughter and smiles into the lives of so many more disadvantaged children.

By giving the ‘gift of hope’, CHICKS aims to help such children realise that there can be a better future. A future in which, they are respected, loved and valued – taking with them happy memories, which will always be there to strengthen them when times get hard.