Issue 11: Autumn/Winter 2022
Children and Young People
Recent research suggests that more than two-thirds of parents are worried about paying for food, energy and fuel, and more than half have concerns about being able to pay for childcare, rent or mortgage payments and unsecured loans.
Melanie, a single mum to her daughter Sophie, found herself in a challenging situation when the prices of essential items increased. She relies on credit cards for all purchases and reaches her overdraft limit every month, meaning she is walking on a financial tightrope and struggles to support Sophie as much as she would like.
“I split up with Sophie’s dad when she was three, and I’ve been raising her pretty much on my own ever since. Paying for rent, food, bills and everything else that a child needs falls to my finances, which I’ve been struggling with for years already.”
It was just after Melanie’s father passed way, about five years ago, that she became aware of the support available for her and her daughter.
Someone I knew had accessed MCF support previously, and told me all about it just after my dad’s funeral. When I realised I could receive support, I was lost for words. I’m so grateful that my dad’s friend told me about the work of the MCF, because without it, I could be in a much more difficult situation now.
Here at the MCF, we believe that by offering the best opportunities to children and young people, we can help them achieve their full potential and maximise their talents. To better prepare Sophie for her GCSEs, we were able to provide her with a laptop, allowing her to continue learning at home and not fall behind in class.
More recently, we also covered the costs of Sophie’s school skiing trip, which will take place in February 2023, providing her with an opportunity to have the same experiences as her friends and grow in confidence.
“Sophie asked me if she could go on the ski trip a while ago, and I could tell it was important to her as all of her friends were going and she wanted to share the experience with them. Thanks to the MCF, we’ve booked the trip and she’s so excited for it! She also plans to write a travel diary when she’s out there so she can show the MCF what they’ve allowed her to experience, and how much she appreciates it.”
We are proud to support parents through our grants, which aim to help the children and grandchildren of freemasons to maximise their potential – either through providing them with essential equipment, so that they do not fall behind, or enabling them to have experiences that they might not be able to access without our support.