City young persons’ charity gets £10,000 donation to buy much-needed PPE

LandAid, the property industry charity, provides £2million in grants to charities and projects that aim to end youth homelessness each year.

The donation, which is part of the LandAid COVID-19 Emergency Fund, provided the essential personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks and visors, to allow vital face-to-face support services to continue, including mental health counselling, childcare and accommodation.

YMCA Trinity Group is a local charity that helps young people to realise their full potential on their journey to independence.

Each year, YMCA Trinity Group supports around 10,000 young and vulnerable people, and communities across Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. Its primary aim is to enable every young person to grow and develop, running initiatives that tackle issues such as youth engagement, youth offending, mental health, access to employment, domestic violence, and crisis support.

Jonathan Martin, chief executive of YMCA Trinity Group, said: “We are incredibly grateful for the generous donation from LandAid. Covid-19 has presented significant challenges to everyone, particularly young and vulnerable people in our communities who need our support now more than ever before.

“A substantial amount of PPE has been needed to continue our most critical support during this time, and this donation will go some way to meeting this demand.

“We are also very grateful to the many people who have continued to make donations or choosing to continue their YMCA Fitness memberships during this time. All the funds that have been raised are making a significant difference to people in our local community.”

Paul Morrish, chief executive of LandAid, added: “Thanks to the generosity of our supporters from the real estate industry at this difficult time, LandAid has been able to distribute over £650,000 of emergency funding to charities working right across the country.

“We are pleased to see that these funds are making a real impact to charities and the young people they support. LandAid remains committed to its mission to end youth homelessness and working with charities providing support to young people to achieve this.”

Other community services provided by YMCA Trinity Group include health, fitness and wellbeing facilities, training and education, childcare, youth work, accommodation, and venue hire.

YMCA Trinity Group had also partnered with LandAid to host the annual Sleep Easy event in Cambridge, which should have been held in March this year. The event, which has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, sees participants spend a night challenging themselves to sleep outside, in cold temperatures, raising money to help change the lives of vulnerable young people and in doing so raising awareness of the issues around youth homelessness.

YMCA Trinity Group is a part of a federation of 113 independent YMCAs, forming the oldest and largest youth charity in the world.