Doncaster Chamber Donates over £8,000 to Local Mental Health and Social Care Charities

In support of the community’s mental health and social care needs, the funds were split between Doncaster Mind, Age UK Doncaster and the local Phoenix WoMen’s Aid branch. Each of these organisations were given a £2,845 share of the total amount.

The money itself was raised by Doncaster Chamber at the 2021 iteration of its Businesses Awards ceremony, which took place back in December. Here, attendees had the opportunity to participate in a silent auction, competing for things like overnight stays in boutique hotels, meals at top restaurants, film memorabilia, and even international holidays. The highest bidders then claimed their prizes and the money was pooled together in a special charity fund.

Prior to the awards, Jill Wood, former President of Doncaster Chamber, selected which organisations would receive the generous contributions — ultimately picking Doncaster Mind, Age UK Doncaster and Phoenix WoMen’s Aid.

Explaining why she chose these particular charities, Jill said: “With everyone still trying to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and the associated lockdown measures, the importance of looking after your wellbeing has never been greater. Our chosen charities provide vital support in this area, to people across the Doncaster borough.

“Mind helps residents to improve their resilience and deal with various mental health issues, while Age UK works within the community to support older people, their families and carers. Last but not least, Phoenix WoMen’s Aid helps survivors of domestic abuse via the provision of a number of different services.”

All three organisations have now received their share of the donation, and will be using the funds to enhance their offering.

Speaking about how the money will be used, Laura Arthur, CEO of Doncaster Mind, said: “We would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Doncaster Chamber for choosing us as one of their charity partners of the year. We have seen a significant increase in the demand for our services since the pandemic hit and, with mental health difficulties now affecting more than 1 in four of us, that support is now needed more than ever.

“This year we have expanded our services to support Young People in Doncaster aged 16 – 25 by delivering one-to-one mentoring support and the money that has been raised will be used to develop these services further, as we believe that no one should have to face a mental health difficulty alone.

“We are always looking for new ways to deliver mental health support and being one of Doncaster Chamber’s charity partners has given us the opportunity to raise awareness of the work we do. The money will help us to support more people and help to reduce our waiting time to be seen.”

Echoing these sentiments, a spokesperson for Phoenix Women’s Aid said: “We are truly appreciative of all our supporters and the Chamber’s recognition of our clients and the important work we do.  Thank you so much, Doncaster Chamber, for the financial donation and awareness raising of our services.”

Finally, Lesley Hill, Operations Manager at Age UK Doncaster, said: “We are very grateful to receive this donation from the Chamber. The last couple of years have been incredibly challenging and older people need our support now more than ever. This money will be put to good to use to ensure that we can help as many as possible and that no one is left behind”.