IKEA Belfast customers raise €16,000 to help children around the world
 
IKEA Belfast customers have raised €16,000 since October as part of the IKEA Soft Toys for Education Campaign, raising funds for educational projects around the globe.
 
For every soft toy purchased as part of the Soft Toys for Education Campaign between October 27 2014 and 3 January 2015, the IKEA Foundation donated €1 to educational projects run by Save the Children and UNICEF.
 
The funds raised by customers in IKEA Belfast, are part of the over €550,000 raised nationwide for the campaign this year, to add to a total of over €76 raised globally since it began in 2003, which has reached more than 11 million children through 99 projects in 46 different countries.
 
The projects train teachers, help give children a safe space to learn, provide educational materials, and increase school attendance in some of the world’s poorest communities.
 
The funding can be used for a wide range of educational activities, even helping children continue to learn when disasters strike. For example, €880,000 of last year’s donation is supporting UNICEF’s efforts to help children in Sierra Leone learn remotely via radio programmes while their schools are closed because of the deadly Ebola outbreak; the money is also helping children and families get the lifesaving information and support they need to survive.
 
The money raised this year by IKEA customers will help UNICEF fund the Schools for Africa initiative in eight countries and the Schools for Asia initiative in China. Save the Children’s share will support education for children with disabilities and those from ethnic minority groups in Asia and Europe.
 
In addition to the UNICEF and Save the Children projects, local charitable causes were supported as part of ‘give twice’ activities, where customers can choose to buy an additional soft toy which can be dropped into the ‘give twice’ boxes in each IKEA store and then be donated to local charities.
 
This year, IKEA Belfast supported Simon Community in Northern Ireland, donating almost 600 soft toys to families affected by homelessness.
 
Store Manager Janie Bisset says, “We are so grateful to our customers for their continued support of the Soft Toys for Education Campaign, and we’re delighted with the amount of money we’ve managed to raise as well as the additional toys we’ve been able to give to Simon Community.
 
“At IKEA, we see children as the most important people in the world. We believe every child has the right to a healthy, secure childhood and access to quality education, no matter where in the world they live. And because we value doing things together, we turn to our irresistible soft toys for help, and once again they’ve helped us raise invaluable funds.”

Pictured are Mya Campbell (5), Yasmin Saunders Mulgrew (4) and Cara Campbell (1) dress up to celebrate a successful Soft Toys for Education Campaign at IKEA Belfast.