Shoppers at Lakeside Village Support Children and Young People via Mental Health Charity

Generous shoppers at Lakeside Village —  who raised a whopping £4,918 for Doncaster Mind —  helped to keep the mental health charity’s Children and Young People's (CYP) service operational until more funding was received.
 
The money was raised when Doncaster Mind was selected as Lakeside Village Shopping Outlet’s charity of the year (in 2022) and has been used to support the CYP whose funding ended at the end of the year.
 
Laura Arthur, CEO of Doncaster Mind, said: “With the help of the funds raised by Lakeside, we were able to continue to offer our vital CYP the service until we had secured additional funding. 
 
“This funding has also enabled us to recruit 11 more volunteers to support our services as we have seen a 52% increase in our referrals over the past 12 months and we are only expecting this to rise further. Having more people trained within our organisation means that people will be waiting less time to be seen.
 
“Overall, we have delivered 66 1:1 mentoring sessions between December and today that we would not have been able to deliver without the support of customers at Lakeside. 
 
“We want to say a massive, massive thank you to both customers and staff at Lakeside. Your donations and kindness have made a real difference.”
 
Di Mellis, Centre Manager at Lakeside Village, said: “It is fantastic to hear what our donations have helped to support. We are very lucky at Lakeside Village to have extremely supportive stores and very generous customers and we know that they will be thrilled that their donations have helped to support children and young people needing mental health support in the city.”
 
Doncaster Mind offers a wide range of services to people aged 16 upwards in the city who are experiencing mental health difficulties. These include personal development courses, peer support activities, befriending, mentoring, art therapy, counselling and support for those who have been bereaved by suicide.
 
Lakeside Village has supported several local charities in recent years, including Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, Team Verrico, DonMentia and, last year's charity of the year, Guide Dogs.
 
For further information about Lakeside Village Outlet Shopping visit www.lakeside-village.co.uk