Northsound Radio/ Cash for Kids - Michelle Herd
Cash for Kids is Northsound Radio’s listener charity. This year we hope to raise over £200,000 to make grants to individuals, families, children’s groups, organisations and projects throughout the Northsound transmission area. All the money is raised locally and spent locally and goes to disabled and disadvantaged children and young people under 18 throughout the Grampian area:
Throughout the year there are many events which generate the money which then goes to deserving causes. Some, such as Girls Night In and our annual Golf Tournament are organised by Cash for Kids. Many others come from individuals, listeners and organisations who want to help. There’s seldom a week goes by without someone raising money for Cash for Kids. The biggest single fund raiser of the year is the on-air auction (this year it was 6 & 7 November 2010 and raised £28K). Periodically, the Board of Ambassadors consider the applications for grants, which may come from individuals/families or organised groups. Groups which have benefited in the past range from respite care and special needs groups to local Down’s Syndrome, autistic and deaf groups, sports and music clubs, family centres, nursery groups and after school clubs. Cash for Kids money has gone to drugs awareness programmes, a healthy tuck shop, to convert former police boxes into youth cafes and to help equip sensory rooms. Demand for grants always exceeds the money available and each year, so Cash for Kids strives to raise more cash.
www.northsound1.com
Mentor: Anne Irvani
Michelle Herd was Project Organiser for the charity Crimestoppers, when she heard about Business Mentoring through Business Know How. Michelle explained she had applied for a mentor because “I am always keen to learn and increase my contacts and use passed on experience and advice, I wanted a sounding board.” She was matched with Anne Irvani who has 40 years of business experience including some time with Scottish Enterprise.
Anne said that Mentoring is not just about your business but the effects personal issues have on it as well. It is “helping a person do what they are capable of doing, not to transform them into someone that they are not.” Michelle agreed that she had “a number of issues and there were also things that I wanted to develop. I basically needed a confidence builder”. It was during the Mentoring program that Michelle was offered her current job with Cash for Kids; she enthused that “Anne gave me confidence in what I was doing and how to approach things, I became more focused and planned. This new confidence certainly helped me get my job at Cash for Kids.” Anne said that she was “delighted but not surprised when Michelle was offered the job” but said that this was “just the next challenge.” The new role had no hand over and she had been thrown in at the deep end with the daunting task of organising their annual Christmas Charity event at short notice. The stress level was raised by a feeling that there were unrealistically high financial targets to meet. Anne maintains that Michelle was capable and could cope with these new challenges and has settled into the role with confidence.
Having a listening ear undoubtedly helped Michelle realize her true capability when initially things looked extremely challenging. The proof of the pudding is that Cash for Kids continues to be a very successful programme combating child poverty and attracting enthusiastic business supporters like Asda and Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce.
They both enthused about the chemistry in their relationship which was so important to make it work, Michelle said that Anne was her “perfect match” and the ongoing process was “very valuable and I would highly recommend it to anyone”.
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