World Mental Health Day 2022: Tameside Lakes Challenge – supported by the National Lottery

To mark World Mental Health Day 2022 on 10 October, we’re sharing stories from across our services where local fundraising and donations is supporting our work to make recovery reality.

Our local services are at the heart of everything we do in Making Recovery Reality.

We know our staff, people we’ve supported, people with lived experience of mental ill health and businesses often want to give something back to the charity and the service that supported them. As one of the largest mental health charities in England, we’re grateful for anyone who donates or raises money for Richmond Fellowship. But where do your donations to the services we run go?

Our services will often organise fundraising activities themselves, but often, we receive donations and grants from organisations.

For example, a group of individuals from Richmond Fellowship’s Tameside Supported Housing service enjoyed a fantastic 5-day outdoor challenge holiday in the Lake District, thanks to a grant provided by the National Lottery.

People using the service had the chance to participate in an array of different challenges including caving, scrambling, zip-wiring as well as piloting a boat.

After exploring the outdoors, the group enjoyed cooking together and showing off their talent in an impromptu song and dance.

They ended each day relaxing by Lake Windermere and a wonderful starlit sky.

All those who attended received support from the service in Tameside to manage their own mental ill health.

Garry, a person who went on the experience, said:

“It was great to be in a team encouraging each other and relying on each other. It was hard pushing myself but very worthwhile. I know I can do more now.”

Inspired?

Our fundraising portal, managed by Enthuse, makes fundraising and donating to Richmond Fellowship and our services easy, meaning you can enjoy your fundraising without having to worry.

To find out more information about fundraising for our services click here or to visit our portal to get fundraising, click here.

Thank you for your support.

Fundraising and donating to Richmond Fellowship is easy!

This World Mental Health Day we’ve been sharing stories from around our services where grassroots fundraising and donations support our mission of Making Mental Health Recovery a Reality and priority.

As one of the leading mental health charities in England, we are grateful to everyone who fundraises for us, both past and present, and your donations really help our work with people we support both locally and regionally.

For example:

A £30 donation can help towards buying art materials for a wellbeing activity

A £200 donation can support a service to buy flowers, bulbs, or other gardening materials to help people we support update a communal garden area

A £1,000 donation can help towards paying for a holiday or adventure activity for the people we support

How can you fundraise for us?

We’ve made fundraising and donating to Richmond Fellowship as easy as possible, so you can fully enjoy the experience of raising money for us.

Our online fundraising and donations portal, managed by Enthuse, is our dedicated site for setting up your own fundraising page for raising money, or giving a simple donation to support our work.

You can share your fundraising page on social media, allowing people to donate to your activity or challenge – ensuring it reaches as bigger audience as possible.

Our Communications and Marketing Team would love to hear about your fundraising experiences so do opt into our email request to contact you when you sign up, if you wish.

Our portal also allows you to make a one off donation, or you can set up a direct debit to allow you to give monthly, with the ability for you can cancel the direct debit at any time. There’s also an option to state which service you’d like your donation to go to.

Gift Aid

Gift Aid can increase the value of your donation at no extra cost to you. Tick the Gift Aid declaration box when making your donation online.

The Government will then contribute an extra 25% on top of your donation. This means for every £1 you donate, we receive £1.25.

What can I do to fundraise?

Our Communications and Marketing Team have compiled some ideas of how you can fundraise for us and what’s worked well for previous fundraisers!

> Signing up for a local charity run, such as a Marathon or 5K
> Organising a sponsored walk with friends and family
> Hosting a bake sale at a community event
> Organising afternoon tea with a competition
> A charity quiz night
> Sponsored to give up a habit for a month – Sober October and No Shave November
> Sweepstake – guess the number in the sweet jar. Everyone that comes along gets to have a go and pay to enter
> Sponsored step count – as a team be sponsored to reach a certain number of steps in a month
> A Halloween themed event – pay £2 to enter. You might already be hosting a Halloween event this year, why not try to raise some money too? You could host a quiz? Everyone can come along dressed in their best Halloween costume!

Fundraising success stories!

Here are some examples of how your fundraising has helped our services:

> Tameside Lakes Challenge – supported by the National Lottery
> Sudbury Supported Housing service in Suffolk – fundraising at the Sudbury Fun Run
> Castle Young People Supported Housing service in Cambridge – fundraising at the Northstowe Running Festival

To fundraise or donate to Richmond Fellowship, click here.

World Mental Health Day 2022: Sudbury Supported Housing service – fundraising at the Sudbury Fun Run

To mark World Mental Health Day 2022, we’re joining in the conversation around making mental health a global priority.

Richmond Fellowship’s local services are vital in reaching that aim. For over 60 years our services have embedded themselves in communities across England, ensuring mental health support is available to everyone. From Tameside to Bristol, Chichester to Cumbria, our services aren’t just here today – they’re here for you across the year.

Fundraising and donations helps us to Work Together to raise awareness of mental health, and also to help raise funds for our services to provide even more support.

For example, Richmond Fellowship’s Sudbury Supported Housing service has been actively involved in fundraising within the Suffolk town for many years, this includes at the annual Sudbury Fun Run and Sponsored Walk.

Over the years, staff, people we support and volunteers have come together and taken part in the annual event.

In 2016, the service was selected as one of the beneficiaries on the Fun Run and sponsored walk, which meant a cut of all entry fees went to the service as well as people fundraising individually.

In total, £2,000 was raised and was used to provide art activities, film nights, an outing to the coast and workshops for people using the service.

Staff, along with people we support also used some of the money to transform the communal garden at the rear of the Queens Road building. The garden was entered into Sudbury Town Council’s annual Pride of Sudbury awards and won 2 awards in consecutive years.

Those accessing support were also involved in deciding how the money was spent.

Inspired?

If you organise a wellbeing activity in your local area, and you’d like to support Richmond Fellowship by selecting it as a charity beneficiary please contact us today for more information.

If you’re taking part in a local fun and would like to support your local Richmond Fellowship service by fundraising for us, find out more information here.

To make a donation to Richmond Fellowship, you can do so using our online donations portal, managed by Enthuse, here.

Thank you for your support.

World Mental Health Day 2022: Castle Young People’s service – fundraising at the Northstowe Running Festival

As one of the leading mental health charities in England, Richmond Fellowship is joining in with this year’s theme for World Mental Health Day 2022 and opening up the conversation about “making mental health a global priority”.

Our local services are at the heart of everything we do in Making Recovery Reality. We want to look at this theme from the ground up, and demonstrate how their amazing work at a local and regional level contributes to making mental health a national and indeed global priority.

The support you give when fundraising and donating helps services to organise activities for the people using our services. The activities our services run contribute to recovery and enable individuals to have hope and motivation.

Our services are often charity beneficiaries of fun runs, marathons, and physical activities – not least because of  the connections between exercise and looking after our wellbeing.

For example, in September this year, Richmond Fellowship’s Castle Young People Supported Housing service was selected as one of three charity beneficiaries of the Northstowe Running Festival in Cambridgeshire.

Castle Service provides housing related support for 16 to 25 years olds who are living with mental ill health. The service  has been supporting young people on their recovery journeys in Cambridge since the 1980s.

Runners had the opportunity to sign up and choose Richmond Fellowship as their charity to fundraise for.

Staff from the service were also on hand across the weekend of the event to talk about the work of Castle and to signpost to other services also run by Richmond Fellowship in the area.

The money raised from those who ran on behalf of Richmond Fellowship, will be used to provide a range of recovery activities for the people we support.

The Castle Service is very much rooted in the local community and has been grassroots fundraising for many years to provide even more support and activities for the young people tey work with. This includes at Cambridge’s annual Mill Road Winter Fair, where previously the money raised has been used to provide materials for art projects as well as taking people we support to a football match.

Inspired?

If you organise a wellbeing activity in your local area, and you’d like to support Richmond Fellowship by selecting it as a charity beneficiary please contact us today for more information.

If you’re taking part in a local fun and would like to support your local Richmond Fellowship service by fundraising for us, find out more information here.

To make a donation to Richmond Fellowship, you can do so using our online donations portal, managed by Enthuse, here.

Thank you for your support.

Sudbury service receives donation of £1,700 from local Rotary Club

Tony Platt (left) presenting the cheque to Jenna Keenan (middle) and Sue Capstaff (right)

Richmond Fellowship’s Sudbury supported housing and community service in Suffolk has received a cheque for £1,700 as part of their charity of the year status with the local Rotary Club.

Tony Platt, President of the Sudbury Rotary Club selected Richmond Fellowship, the Suffolk Befriending Scheme and East Anglian Air Ambulance as his chosen charities for his 2018-2019 ‘Rotary Year’.

Various fundraising events took place over the last 12 months and proceeds split between the three charities. Events included the town’s annual Christmas Tree Festival in St Peter’s Church in December, a Valentines Day collection in Sudbury Town Centre during February, the Rotary Club’s annual charity gala dinner with special guest speaker BBC News presenter Huw Edwards and a Sudbury Last Night of the Proms music event in June.

The cheque was presented to the service’s new Community Link Worker, Jenna Keenan and Recovery Worker Sue Capstaff at the Rotary Club’s AGM in July.

The money will be spent locally, providing even more recovery based activities and trips for those using the service.

Kerry Stiles, Area Manager for Richmond Fellowship’s East Anglia services said:

‘This is wonderful news for our team and those using our services in Sudbury. The service is a bastion and champion for fundraising and it’s lovely to see their work in the local community rewarded. I’d like to pay tribute to Tony Platt for selecting Richmond Fellowship as one of his chosen charities and to all those involved in the Sudbury Rotary Club for their fundraising efforts during the past year’.

The news comes as part of a bumper fundraising year for service, which was recognised as Great Cornard Coop’s charity partner of the year, receiving £2,800 back in March.

Richmond Fellowship’s Leicestershire Life Links service is Mayor’s Charity of the Year

Richmond Fellowship’s Leicestershire Life Links service has been chosen as Braunstone Mayor’s fundraising charity for the year.

Parminder Basra, Mayor for Braunstone, selected the service because she’s seen the impact that mental ill health can have on the local community.

Mayor Basra said:

“I have lived in Braunstone town for 23 years and amhonoured to be representing the community as Mayor. Prior to becoming mayor, I worked closely with disadvantaged communities to help improve their life chances, hence why I feel so passionate about helping others, as I know that with the right support, time and guidance people can achieve their goals and future aspirations and become active citizens in society.

“It is my great pleasure as Mayor to support our local charity Leicestershire Life Links, part of national mental health charity Richmond Fellowship as my fundraising charity of the year. I chose Life Links because through working in the community I have witnessed first hand the widespread effects of mental ill health, both on the individual themselves and also their  family and friends. I therefore want people to know that support is available to them and to know how they can find it – not just for their own mental health and wellbeing but also to help  support somebody close to them who may be suffering.

“Supporting Life Links also resonates with me on a personal level as I sadly lost my father to a lung disease. Being diagnosed with this illness  had a significant impact on him, as prior to his illness he was such an independent and active person and sadly his diagnosis led him to become withdrawn and feel low. I know if my father had had access to a service like Life Links it would have really helped him mentally and may have also given him the strength to fight his illness and live longer.

“We often talk about physical health and keeping fit, but it is crucial that we also raise awareness to the benefits and importance of maintaining our mental health. The more we talk about mental health, the more it will help to break down barriers to accessing support and thus reduce the stigma that many people still face.

“Mental Health is an illness that can affect anyone at any time in their life and if we continue to talk more about how it affects people, it will help educate us all in how we can help those suffering so they do not feel embarrassed or alone”.

To find out more about Richmond Fellowship’s Leicestershire Life Links service, visit their dedicated website at www.rflifelinks.co.uk.

Tyne and Wear service benefits from £300 mystery donation

Richmond Fellowship’s Tyne and Wear service has benefitted from a £300 mystery donation made during mental health awareness week.

Richmond Fellowship, which provides supported housing, community and employment support in the county, received the generous donation in the post.

A card, which accompanied the cheque in an envelope said:

“Enclosed is a donation for your charity to support people’s recovery from mental health problems. God bless you all for caring. Thank you.”

Since receiving the money, Richmond Fellowship has worked with the people using their services across the locality to find out where the money should be spent. The service chose to do something to create a new experience and build positive memories and organised a day trip to the museum town of Beamish.

With the assistance of local company Limo Bus North East who kindly donated one of their 16-seater limos, the outing took place in July.

Whilst on the trip, those using the local services got to try their hand at mining, visited the local sights and enjoyed an ice cream in the summer sunshine.

Karyn Ainsley, Tyne and Wear Locality Manager said:

“We were all really thrilled when we received the mystery donation. It is the kindness and support of people like our unknown donor that allows us to continue our work here at Tyne and Wear.”

Outgoing Sudbury Mayor raises over £400 for Richmond Fellowship

Former Mayor of Sudbury Sarah Page with Matt Webb from RF and Councillors Adrian and Jan Osborne.

The outgoing Mayor of Sudbury, Councillor Sarah Page has raised £467.20 for the national mental health charity, Richmond Fellowship.

Councillor Page selected Richmond Fellowship as one of her chosen charities for her 2017-2018 mayoralty year.

A range of fundraising activities have taken place over the last 12 months, including various coffee mornings in Sudbury Town Hall.

Sarah Page said:

“I was inspired by the work of Richmond Fellowship and the fantastic staff at Sudbury. I attended some of their events in my mayoral year and met many clients and staff. I was very impressed with the work of this organisation and I feel Richmond Fellowship make a huge difference to peoples lives and long term recovery. Their work has such a positive impact on, not only their clients but our wider community”.

Andrea Stribling, Locality Manager for Richmond Fellowship Suffolk said:

“I’d like to say a big thank you to Sarah for selecting our service as her charity of the year. The money raised will make a real difference to those accessing our support. I’d also like to say thank you to all the residents who’ve kindly donated at the various fundraising events that have taken place around the town”.

The money raised will be spent locally, providing a range of recovery activities and trips for those using Richmond Fellowship’s supported housing and community based service in Sudbury, Suffolk.

Team raises over £350 at annual Fun Run

Four of the team from Richmond Fellowship in Sudbury sped their way round 5 miles at the Sudbury Fun Run on Good Friday, 30th March raising over £350 for the charity.

It’s the fifth Fun Run and sponsored walk the Sudbury team have taken part in to date, netting over £3,000 in total.

Each runner and walker received a participation medal on completing the route around the Suffolk town.

All the money raised will go towards providing additional activities and day trips for those using the supported housing and community based service.

Nina Allard, Team Leader at the Sudbury service said:

“It was a really lovely opportunity to do something within the community that both raises the awareness of Richmond Fellowship, mental health and brings the team together to raise funds for people who use our service.”

The Sudbury Fun Run is one of the longest running sporting events in the town, attracting over 600 participants every year.

Richmond Fellowship is Sudbury Charity of the Year

Our Sudbury team in action

Richmond Fellowship, the national mental health charity making recovery reality, has been selected as charity of the year by the newly elected Mayor of Sudbury, Councillor Sarah Page.

Various fundraising events will be taking place in Sudbury, Suffolk over the next 12 months including a curry night, coffee morning and photography competition in partnership with local schools. Read more

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