FoMS Kidz response to Gt Orme Mess: Sponsored Litterpick

Update on Walk Day: Thank you all for your support on this, the kids themselves have been out with sponsorship forms & have raised an astonishing £152. I can't tell you how proud we are of their efforts. We are increasing our goal on here to at least £300. If we could reach that it would help us put a deposit on a small empty shop that will be near most of the kids homes & where they can go after school & weekends to play, do homework & get support for their worries. We have an amazing little team around the kids & now Youth Shedz are happy to support the funds raised will go on a first step to showing the kids that adults believe in them & they can do anything they set their hearts & minds on. Please donate what you can or leave a kind message on our FOMS facebook page for them. That is equally important. Please read on below for the reasons we need this funding & know that if we exceed this target it can only go further to help keep them safe, warm & engaged on exciting projects.

Diolch Pawb - Gini

Hi, my name is Gini Rivers. I am a founding member of Friends of Mostyn Street or FOMS. We're a 'Boots on the Ground' community action group, determined to lift Llandudno & its communities above the tide of decline that engulfs many UK seaside resorts. https://www.facebook.com/groups/fomsllandudno/

Whilst we're out cleaning, sweeping & litter picking the town centre & our beautiful Prom, we see a number of young people who are clearly struggling through lack of daily support or structure. They sometimes take out their frustrations with pointless antisocial behaviour & damage to businesses which can lead them to poor decisions & choices.

We quickly set up a linked youth group who've called themselves FoMS Kidz. They come from a variety of backgrounds but many of the families are struggling to make ends meet & keep bills paid. So extra acitvities that lots of kids enjoy all year round are often out of reach. However, banding together with brilliant leadership from Clara & 'the mams & dads & aunties'. the older kids have set up a committee & make decisions & suggestions which we adults try to help them to achieve. This gives them so many skills & responsibilities. They go out every week clearing litter & fly tipping from their areas, support the older people in their community & take part in our larger FOMS projects when school hours allow. FoMS Kidz have just been shortlisted for the prestigious Tidy Wales Awards under Keep Wales Tidy.

Despite all their hard work FoMS Kidz haven't got a warm, safe base & some children & young people aren't able to go home after school to a snack or a place to do homework or share concerns. Clara, FOMS & the team are determined to fundraise so that children as young as 3 & up to 16 have a positive, supportive space for personal development. We're aiming to follow the brilliant example of Youth Shedz to work long term with our young people to bring out talents & aspirations & to help them on the way to realise these through hard work & goal setting & properly supported guidance. We hope Youth Shedz will accept us as part of their wider network so our young people can benefit from their knowledge & resources. Baby steps but we know where we're aiming for & that is to support the Young People of Llandudno to have a safe haven, realise their potential & work on good mental & physical health goals that they set for themselves with trained support. By the community, for the community.

FoMS Kidz are very aware of how much everything costs. & are willing to work towards their goals. Their first fundraiser is a direct response to the awful pictures we've all seen locally of piles of litter across the Great Orme Nature Reserve & the rest of Llandudno. So on August 30th at 4pm as the last visitors leave, FoMS Kidz are going up the Great Orme to do a sponsored litter pick in key picnic & littering areas.

We're not setting a goal for how many bags collected, we will support them to collect all that they find. Many of the kids have never been up on the Great Orme before, so that will be part of their experience too & they will be walking quite a distance between hotspot littering areas.

Help us to help the kids lead the way as responsible citizens of Llandudno. Leave nothing but footprints on the Great Orme or elsewhere & our best case scenario is that the kids don't find much or any litter & it becomes a sponsored walk carrying unused litterpickers (!) Businesses & individuals: the Great Orme is one of the treasures of North Wales, our kids will have a wonderful afternoon exploring it & helping keep it pristine for the species who call it home. Please sponsor our lovely kids to do this service & help them towards the first month's rent on the small empty shop unit that they hope to call their safe hub this winter.. Help us to keep our beautiful Country Park clean & our children to understand they are a valued part of the town's future & we love them for their enthusiasm & commitment to our vision.