RAG beneficary voting 2008

Every summer, RAG choose 5 charities - 3 local, 1 national and 1 international - to receive the money raised over the year. We give the run-down on each charity.

Local

• SNAPPY (Special Needs Activity and Play Provision in York) seek to "maximise the personal development and provide good quality play and recreational opportunities". They run different activities every Saturday and holiday camps for disabled children aged 5-19, as well as evenings for young people aged 19-26.

• York Links is probably one of the charities that you'll be most familiar with, since it is the University of York section of St John's Ambulance, and they are the first aiders at most campus events. Press and Publicity Officer for York Links Michael Tock said: "Although we do get money for the society for working at campus events it just covers our basic costs. We need extra money for training and equipment."

• Martin House is a Children's hospice charity with 2 hospices based near Tadcaster. They offer "help and support to the whole family in a calm and loving enviroment", and help over 400 children every year. As well as their original hospice for children, that has been open for 21 years, they also run the UK's first hospice for terminally ill teenagers and young people.

• Spinal Injuries provides assistance to those who suffer from spinal cord injuries, from the moment of injury and for the rest of their lives.

• Support Our Soldiers supports soldiers and their families in the York area. Joe Clarke, York coordinator said: "It's a great charity dealing with current issues, giving people who are often forgotten a voice, and support that is so desperately needed."

• York Blind & Partially Sighted offers practical help, emotional support and befriending to visually impaired adults. The group's mission statement is: "To advocate, develop and provide, services and facilities which enable people who are blind or partially sighted, achieve independence with dignity, in all aspects of life and sectors of society."

National

• Barnados is a well-known charity and their new slogan, 'Believe in Children' leaves no confusion about their aims. They participate in a large range of activities, from helping teenage drop-outs find work in their stores, to running centres to help victims of domestic violence, to making sure children get the education they need.

• The Terrence Higgins Trust, named after the first known person in the UK to die of AIDS, is an HIV and sexual health Charity. They told The Yorker: "Although in the last 25 years the stigma surrounding AIDS has dropped significantly, we still believe there is a lot more to be done", and they do this by providing counselling and treatment advice for those with sexually transmitted infections, as well as testing and information.

• The Encephalitis Society is the only organisation in the world who are dedicated to suffers of encephalitis, a condition where the brain is inflamed, usually the result of a viral infection. The condition can often result in memory loss, epilepsy, and also has a relatively high mortality rate. The society supports individuals and their families, by sending information and holding support meetings, as well as raising awareness and promoting research.

• Youth Music aims to help all young people, no matter what their background, to get involved with music. They are advocates of a range of schemes, from giving children's centre music packs, to providing an alternative of the 'hoodie culture' for teenagers in deprived areas. They run projects themselves and give funding to other small music based projects.

• Help for Heroes: Dan Taylor, who is publicising the cause, said: "It is a charity that protects badly injured service people and helps them recuperate from recent conflicts. It truly is a great cause, and it's inclusion will broaden the scope of charities that RAG supports." He added: "They're some of the bravest people in the world."

International

• The John Lyall Charity helps children in Wawa, a village in the Philippines. In this area adult illiteracy is high, and around 40% of children don't attend school. The charity's namesake did a large amount of work with street children there, and this charity, established after his death, aims to build a community learning centre where they can provide "basic literacy classes for all children and adults".

• International Alert is the UK's leading peacebuilding charity. They work in Africa, Asia and Latin America to support local communities hit by conflict. They also work with NGOs, and try to prevent war happening again. Their spokesman said: "At the moment, around half of all peace agreements fail within five years. We aim to change that by addressing the problems that cause conflict."

• Health Unlimited supports indigenous people and communities affected by conflict in their efforts to achieve better health and wellbeing by providing healthcare for even the poorest people.

• Medicines sans Frontiers (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 70 countries. It is one the world's most prominent charities.

• Read International: This student-led group aims to "deliver collaborative, student led initiatives to improve access to education across the world and increase youth participation in the global community." The first shipment of books collected by the York Book Project has just been dispatched to Tanzania, where schoolchildren can now use books, once stored in stockrooms, to learn and improve their lives.

• Reprieve provides "frontline investigation and legal representation to prisoners denied justice by powerful governments across the world, especially those governments that should be upholding the highest standards when it comes to fair trials."

So, there they are. All as deserving as the next, but it's down to you to decide which to vote for. Whatever you do, do your research and vote. It's the most important thing you'll do today.

Voting takes place all Week 9 with results announced at Saturday's Woodstock Vote now.

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