Living a richer life shouldn’t just be about scrimping, saving and feeling guilty about spending. Giving some money to a cause you support can make a difference to your life and make a real contribution to those who need it most. The Railway Children is our site charity this year and we will be donating 5% of our profits to them.

The Railway Children helps more than 24,000 runaway and abandoned children a year, in Britain and abroad. You have probably heard the old saying that prevention is better than cure. The Railway Children aims to have maximum impact by getting in there first, and reaching runaway children before anyone else does.

 

By providing children with shelter, healthcare, training, education, support and – wherever possible – reuniting them with their families, it helps to keep children on the right side of the tracks. The charity has expanded to help more and more children since its launch in 1995. Nowadays, it works with more than 40 organisations, including 117 projects across Africa, Asia, South America and Europe.

 

 

In Britain, around 100,000 young people run away every year. That’s enough to fill the new Wembley stadium and leave 10,000 outside. Two thirds are not reported as missing and a quarter will sleep rough.

 

In India, around 12 million children live on the streets. That’s the same as every child in Britain being homeless.

 

The children end up on the streets for all sorts of reasons. They may have been abandoned. They may have run away from violence at home. They may have been sent out to work. A natural disaster or war may simply have wiped out the place they knew as home.

 

Many of these children head to the big cities, arriving in the heat on cramped trains. Alone and bewildered, they’re an easy target for criminals. Action is needed quickly – but by reaching the children first, Railway Children and their partners are able to offer them safety and shelter.

 

 

There are still many, many children in need of help. The charity reckon there are around 120 million street children in the world. That’s more than double the number of people that live in UK.

And here’s the bottom line – 80% of the money the charity spends goes straight into charitable activities, which MoneyMagpie reckons is getting pretty good value out of donations.

 

Just £2 will feed a child in India for a week.

 

£5 helps two children in the UK make a call to a free telephone helpline.

 

£15 feeds a child in Siberia for one month.

 

To find out more about making a donation, see The Railway Children’s site. Don’t forget to read our article on charitable giving to find out how to help charities get the most out of the money you give them.