THIS Christmas we are searching for people in need - an individual who needs a helping hand or a charity that needs a boost. We hope that by telling their stories through our Make-a-Christmas-Wish appeal, we can help make their wishes come true.

Among the first to contact us for help is Bonterre, a farm for disadvantaged children in Holt Heath.

The farm - which is run as a Community Interest Company - set up a crowd-funder to try and raise money to improve its classroom and kitchen so the children who visit can enjoy a better experience.

But - with just three days to go - it has raised less than 10 per cent of the £8,000 it needs to transform the area.

The group had found a series of volunteers who will hold art and cookery classes for free and were hoping that donors would pledge money in return.

They want to use the money to make better use of the one room currently available to them.

At the moment, the single room has to act as kitchen, dining room, office, therapy room, training room and art studio and the group has to cook for the children on a camping stove.

But if they could raise the money, they could install a kitchen and partition part of it to make a separate area.

However, their appeal has yet to capture much attention - and the deadline for the crowd-funder campaign is THIS Wednesday.

Craig Swainland, education manager, said: "It's been going on for a while and we were hoping it might pick up but it hasn't seemed to work that way.

"We had an early flurry but that's it.

"We've tried appealing for grants but it's hard. Some people say the government should be providing this which is fair enough - but they are not."

The classroom is based within the grounds of Top Barn Farm and helps children who are struggling to stay at school for a variety of reasons including autism, ADHD or because of complex backgrounds.

Schools from Worcestershire including those in Worcester and Droitwich have sent pupils to spend time at the farm.

Mr Swainland said: "We take children struggling at school, the sort of kids who are not managing to stay in lessons.

"They are being disruptive, some haven't been to lessons for a long time.

"They come to us and we work with them and help them them to work with other people to understand how they are coming across to others.

"Schools run out of sanctions and we take a different approach or try a different environment to try and get them to that point where they can stay in lessons."

Mr Swainland said many of the children use the time to talk about the issues they face.

He said: "It's a really lovely environment and we have time to spend with the kids who need it.

"This would make the whole day a lot easier for us and a lot better for the kids so we can better meet their needs because we have proper facilities to cook on and a proper dedicated classroom."

Can you help?

It's crowd-funding campaign is available at crowdfunder.co.uk/Bonterre

Here's a video you can also watch about the appeal.