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Request a Gold Appeal Recycle Pack
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Fill in the form below, or
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Barnardos Gold Appeal
Registered Charity No: 6015
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Barnardos is Ireland's leading children's charity. Barnardos invests more in national and community services in Ireland than any other children's charity. In 2008, Barnardos worked with over 5,500 children and families, providing direct services, advice and support through more than 40 centres, based in some of the most over-looked communities in Ireland.
Barnardos works to improve the lives of all children in Ireland, and in particular children who face barriers in reaching their full potential - barriers like poverty, abuse, neglect or bereavement. For more information on Barnardos and the work we do please visit www.barnardos.ie.
We could not provide our services without the extraordinary support of our many donors, fundraisers and supporters.
No two cases we face are the same, but at Barnardos the children we deal with do have one thing in common. It is that they could otherwise be forgotten by society. We want to live in an Ireland where no child gets left behind and we will do everything in our power to make this happen. Our aim is to inject hope into what sometimes seems to be a hopeless situation. Help us to continue the vital work we do for some of the most vulnerable children in society. Children like Jake...
Jake's Story
When Jake came to Barnardos he had already been stopped three times for joyriding in his estate. His mother was at the end of her tether. He had stopped going to school, was hanging around the roads all day and regularly disappearing until the early hours of the morning. He had a younger brother and sister and his mum was very worried about the influence he was having on them. Jake was ten.
Jake loved working with engines
Jake didn't want to be in Barnardos; he had been told he had to go. It was his last chance. He was sullen and withdrawn and as disruptive in the centre as he was at home.
His key worker Mark noticed Jake's drawings - they were very technical and highly detailed graphs and diagrams. When he asked Jake about them Jake just shrugged. He then asked Jake why he had been joyriding. Jake explained that he loved working with engines - he was good at them - and that he found it really easy to start the cars. The older boys in the estate had found this out and they were getting Jake to hotwire the cars for them. He was partly flattered but also very scared not to agree to do it.
He was intrigued and began to respond
Mark suggested to him that instead of hotwiring cars he could be a mechanic. No one had ever suggested an option like that to Jake. In fact, no one had really ever suggested any options to Jake. He didn't really know what a mechanic did so Mark explained it as being able to work on car engines all day, doing what he did best but without getting into trouble. Jake was intrigued and began to respond. He started working harder at school and stopped hanging around the roads at night.
Jake was encouraged to develop his talent and shown what he could do with it
It soon became obvious that Jake was very talented at maths. The more he worked the better he got and he flourished. It was then that Mark asked him if he had ever considered becoming an engineer. Again Jake asked what that was and Mark explained it simply, saying it meant Jake could work on bigger engines like planes and trains and that he could design things such as buildings, bridges or electronics. Jake was fascinated - and hooked! Together with the school Jake was encouraged to develop his talent and shown what he could do with it.
When Jake came to us he was ten and it looked like he would drop out of school and end up in juvenile at a very young age. He transferred into secondary school in Sept. 2008 and the following summer brought his mother into Trinity College to show her where he was going to study engineering.
He is now the one who makes sure his siblings get up every morning and go to school. He now knows all about options.
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