Cumbrian mental health charity Growing Well received a £25,000 early Christmas present after staff at a North West property developer voted it one of its charities of the year.
The Eric Wright Charitable Trust invited suggestions from around the Eric Wright Group, and a nomination from the group’s property division, Maple Grove Developments, was accepted by trustees in recognition of the Kendal-based charity’s outstanding work in community mental health.
Growing Well chief executive Mary Smith said the news of the special grant was a wonderful surprise.
She said: “The Eric Wright Charitable Trust has supported us for a number of years with smaller grants so when we received the email about our work being recognised with a further £25,000 Charity of the Year grant it was a very special day.
“We cannot thank the trust enough for what they have done for our charity and the people who depend on Growing Well.
“It was wonderful to hear that our nomination arose from Maple Grove staff who had family members who had been directly helped by Growing Well. Our lasting impact on individuals and their families spreads far and wide and that is really heartening.
“This boost couldn’t have come at a better time as we grow our charity so we can so we can help more people in mental health difficulty at our Low Sizergh site, open our second site at Tebay Services in January and plan our third site opening for later in 2023.”
Maple Grove Developments managing director Karen Hirst, and Eric Wright Charitable Trust trustees Alison Wright and Michele Collier visited Growing Well to see the charity’s work first hand and present the £25,000 cheque.
Ms Hirst said: “We were pleased to be able to support Growing Well and the very valuable work the charity does across the field of mental health. We are looking forward to doing our ‘volunteer day’ for the Maple Grove Developments team at Growing Well in the New Year.”
Growing Well is a mental health charity and organic vegetable farm which has helped hundreds of people recover from mental health difficulties by providing supported volunteering opportunities to rebuild confidence, set new goals and learn new skills, working outdoors in a safe, supportive environment.
The charity has recently embarked on a ‘replication’ process, with the new site at Tebay Services for communities in Eden and North Cumbria opening in January in partnership with The Westmorland Family and supported by the Nationa Lottery Community Fund.
The Eric Wright Group is an award-winning leader in the UK property and construction industry, working across civil engineering, construction, facilities management, property development, property management and health and care.
The Eric Wright Charitable Trust was established by Eric Wright in 1990, fulfilling his belief that the role of business is not to create wealth for the few but to help build strong communities. The Trust works with a broad range of charities, primarily in the North West of England, with particular emphasis on, youth development, elderly care, education and training, health support services, carers’ support services, mental health, and child and family support.
