Redspottedhanky Joins with Railway Children to Help UK Street Children

LONDON, ENGLAND, October 24, 2010 (Press-News.org) Redspottedhanky, in conjunction with the Railway Children charity, is trying to get train travellers across the UK to help generate up to a staggering GBP30,000 a day to help young runaways and street children simply by booking their train travel online.

Railway Children, a charity for the welfare of young runaways, is calling for commuters to change the lives of British street children by donating loyalty points which they can earn by booking their train tickets on www.redspottedhanky.com.

Each day 3 million people in the UK travel by train. If each of these passengers donated one loyalty point, earned by booking on redspottedhanky, an extra GBP30,000 a day could be spent on improving the lives of vulnerable runaway and street children in the UK

"Budgets are tight for everyone, but this is a simple way for us to help protect children from violence, drugs, sexual exploitation and sleeping rough on the streets. It won't add to the cost of your ticket and you are making an unimaginable difference to the lives of vulnerable children," said Terina Keene, chief executive of Railway Children.

"We understand that many travellers are tightening their purse strings, but donating through loyalty points offers us the chance to help those in need without breaking the family budget," said Ursula Morgenstern at redspottedhanky.

"An amount as small as GBP10 can feed, clothe, wash and house a street child for the night. GBP50 could do something much more significant, and reunite a runaway child with their family," Ursula commented.

Train travellers can log on to redspottedhanky to find the best rail fare for their journey and then choose the amount of points they want to donate.

For every GBP1 spent on redspottedhanky the user receives 1 loyalty point, which has a monetary value of 1p. If the user chooses to donate, every penny which they earn will go towards Railway Children's efforts to provide vital help for homeless and runaway children. The points earned from a return ticket from London to Edinburgh could provide a meal for a homeless child in India and regular donations can help support a Railway Children regional day/night shelter in the UK.

"Our aim is to help get to these street kids before the streets get to them. Donating your redspottedhanky loyalty points will help us do this," said Terina Keene.

* Children's Society; 'Still Running' 2005

About redspottedhanky:
Atos Origin, a leading international IT services provider specialising in hi-tech transactional services, has radically developed its strategy to grow its revenue by venturing into the B2C arena with the launch of redspottedhanky.com, the first consumer service from the IT B2B player.

Redspottedhanky is an online travel retailer, providing an easy way for leisure and business travellers to compare and book cheap train tickets, and to save up to 80% on the cost of advance tickets.

Redspottedhanky is the first ever British online retailer to offer loyalty scheme points when buying train tickets online that can be redeemed against future train travel for any journey in Great Britain.

About Railway Children
Railway Children provides relief to children and young people who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress and in particular to those living on the streets. Since its inception in 1995, Railway Children has helped many thousands of children and young people by working with over 26 partner organisations on 117 projects across the world, and last year alone it helped 27,756 street children.