Category: Thank You So Much

In March, Fresh Futures and Kirklees Family Together, hosted the Kirklees Family Fair in Batley. This was a free event for children and families with refreshments, entertainment, information and advice. On the day there was face painting, balloon animals, parenting and early childhood support, child safety support and much more.

Samantha Latchayya, Leadership Team Coordinator at YCC, who helped organise the event said “We are delighted with the turnouts to our Family Fair events, with hundreds of families reached across our communities receiving advice, support and a really fun day out for all! We would like to thank all of the local groups for their participation. Following the success of the partnership, Fresh Futures are planning to continue the Batley & Spen, and Dewsbury & Mirfield partnerships for the next 12 months.”

The event took place during Ramadan so we ensured we supported the holiday by not having food or drink on display, no having any pork or alcohol on site and quiet spaces were available for reflection and prayer.

Maryam Kazi, a member of the local community said “I loved todays event it was really good, my little one has really enjoyed it as well. There was quite a lot of information that I didn’t know was offered in Kirklees, the home start activities were especially useful for a healthy start, and I’ve taken all the leaflets.”

Jo Cove, Community plus said “It’s a lovely event, a brilliant setting, its quite central in town and its been a really good turnout for this area, because it’s not always easy to engage people in Batley I find. I’ve got three people here pebble painting and one person doing stickers. It’s just coming together and doing an activity and having a chat about the services we provide helping people connect with what’s going on within their own communities. After COVID I think people are a little bit more reluctant to go out and about, there’s a lot of people struggling with anxiety and depression, so we can help people with that.”

For over a decade Fresh Futures has been leading Safety Rangers which is a multi-agency, interactive, accident prevention scheme aiming to reduce and prevent childhood accidents, increase awareness, and improve child health and wellbeing through a variety of fun teaching methods and scenarios.

Since 2017 when we partnered with Thriving Kirklees, we are so proud to have supported 4390 Year 5 pupils from 91 local schools, during 157 sessions.

We recently held a lovely celebration event at Huddersfield Fire Station to thank all our long-term partners that have worked with us to deliver Safety Rangers throughout the years:

• West Yorkshire Police
• West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
• Northorpe Hall
• Safer Kirklees
• Kirklees Road Safety
• South & West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust and
• Huddersfield Town Foundation

We have received amazing feedback from those that have taken part in Safety Rangers over the years:

“Many thanks for organising Safety Rangers for us again this year. The children learnt lots and have taken away some really important information and messages” Teacher

“I liked learning about all the different things and I thought it was fun” Year 5 Pupil

“Talking to all the different services helped me learn how to keep myself safer. We talked about trusted adults with the police and this is really important” Year 5 Pupil

Katie Lockwood, Service Manager at Fresh Futures said “Without the continued support and time our partners have dedicated to the initiative, Safety Rangers wouldn’t have been as successful as it has been. All our partners have been invaluable, and without a doubt enhanced service delivery to ensure each session is as informative and enjoyable as the last.”

In March we ran the first ever Fresh Futures Bail Me Out event and it was a great success!

The aim of the day was to raise both awareness and funds for Fresh Futures by ‘locking up’ local businessmen and women who had to raise their bail money of £999 to be released from Harvey’s Bar/Kitchen, Huddersfield. Those involved raised an amazing £2,424 which will go directly towards supporting disadvantaged children, young people, and their families across Kirklees.

Our seven ‘criminals’ really got into the spirit of the event, which along with raising funds, was a great way for them to network with other local individuals.

THANK YOU, Christine Rhodes, Lucy Jackson, Helen Athey, Michelle Smith, Gareth Ewing, Sam Duffy, and Mark Duffy.

Lucy Jackson, who was ‘locked up’ on the day said “It was wonderful to support Fresh Futures with their Bail Me Out event. It’s almost 40 years since my dad, who set up YCC, died running in a fun run in Huddersfield to also raise money for the centre. It was great to see so much commitment from local people to keep all the great work Fresh Futures does going. Thank you again to everyone involved – even West Yorkshire police for arresting us!”

Th event was supported by several local businesses. Thank you Aura Print for supplying props, Harvey’s Bar/Kitchen for letting us take over their Westgate venue, Sam Teale Productions for filming on the day (video to follow) and PCSO Jordan Booth, from West Yorkshire Police, who came to Brian Jackson House to ‘arrest’ and transport our criminals to Harvey’s.

If you would like to donate towards this event you can visit our active Just Giving page HERE.

For more information on how to become a corporate supporter for Fresh Futures or if you would like to carry out a similar event to raise funds for Fresh Futures please contact [email protected].

At the end of January YCCs Hopeful Families team attended the Pluss and Hopeful Families Celebration Event at St John Smith’s Stadium. Six participants on Fresh Futures programme were presented with ‘Achievement Awards’ by the bestselling author and motivational speaker Richard McCann.

Individuals from three other delivery partners, Groundwork, Halifax Opportunities Trust, and Dominion Training also received awards. The event was well attended and a great way to celebrate the hard work of so many participants, whilst also enjoying a motivational speech delivered by Richard.  

Katie Tierney, Family Mentor at Fresh Futures said, “It was a great day celebrating the achievements of the participants in Kirklees. One of our participants came on to the programme with no confidence and has gone on gone on to receive a Community Learning Award for commitment and engagement. Seeing how she has flourished and is now working towards her Maths and English qualifications has been amazing.”

Thank you to everyone that attended and for all the participants who have worked so hard during their time on the Hopeful Families programme.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Rebecca Crawforth (Owner & Director of Navy) and the team at Navy Professional for nominating Fresh Futures as their chosen charity for the second year in a row.

They have raised an amazing £800 from the sales of their gorgeous Navy advent calendar and from sales at several Christmas markets.

We are delighted to continue to work in partnership with Rebecca and the team; and this generous donation will have a positive impact on the disadvantage children, young people and families we support at Fresh Futures.

To learn more about Navy, visit their website, or follow them on Instagram.

If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.

The team at Fresh Futures would like to say a big thank you to Stowe Family Law, who recently donated a generous £250 to the charity. We are so pleased that the firm has chosen to continue to support and build a relationship with Fresh Futures and we are extremely thankful for every donation we receive.

Stowe Family Law are a team of compassionate family solicitors with a strong track-record of success for clients in Huddersfield and across Yorkshire. You can visit their website here.

Stowe Family Law told YCC; “We are proud to support Fresh Futures for a second year with a donation towards their wonderful work improving the health & wellbeing of children, young people, and their families in the Yorkshire region. We wholeheartedly recommend that other local businesses get involved wherever possible.”

Fresh Futures aims to improve the lives of others, inspire change and to improve the wellbeing of the communities in Kirklees and surrounding areas. All donations we receive have a direct and positive impact on the disadvantaged and vulnerable children, young people, and families we support.

At Fresh Futures we value all our corporate partnerships, and we are keen to partner with a diverse range of business industries. There are many ways a business and their employees can get involved. If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.

Fresh Futures would like to say a huge thank you to the TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation for donating an extremely generous £1,000 from their Community Fund.  

The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation was set up in 2015 and its mission is to support children and young people to achieve their potential within their local communities. The Community Fund programme is dedicated to helping local grassroots charities and since March 2020 has been working particularly hard to support those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Associates (employees) from TK Maxx and Homesense stores, processing centres and offices across Europe, nominate local charities to receive grants that are doing great work in supporting the most vulnerable. In 2021, The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation made over 1,655 grants to support local communities and charities, such as food banks and mental health organisations, with £791,793 donated.

The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation comments: “We are delighted that The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation has been able to support so many charities. We are proud that our grants are making a difference to local communities where it really matters.”

Fresh Futures would like to take this opportunity to thank the TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation for their very generous donation and for nominating our charity to receive the grant.

Fresh Futures relies entirely on the generosity of others to help us raise the funds needed to deliver our range of services that support disadvantaged and vulnerable children, young people, and their families.

If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.

Fresh Futures would like to say a huge Thank You to the Team Managers at Tesco, Huddersfield for supporting Fresh Futures.

Tesco works with local charities through partnerships, helping people when they need it most. The branch in Huddersfield recently reached out to Fresh Futures to offer their support to our charity and support our local communities through events.  

Lynne Haigh, Fundraising and Communications Co-ordinator at YCC, said “We were absolutely thrilled to be contacted by the team at Tesco, Huddersfield. They were really welcoming and excited to learn about Fresh Futures. After being updated on our upcoming events they quickly provided us with some incredible raffle prizes and refreshments.”

On Thursday, last week, Fresh Futures held their first ever fashion show at Brian Jackson House. Members of staff modelled clothes from Complete Clothing Company and the whole community were invited to attend. During the event everyone enjoyed refreshments provided by Tesco.

The evening was a great success and raised an amazing £350 for Fresh Futures.

Fresh Futures relies on support from local businesses, like Tesco, and we are excited to continue forming a great relationship with them going forward.

On behalf of everyone at Fresh Futures we would like to thank Tesco, Huddersfield for supporting this event. What’s more the team at Tesco, Huddersfield also provided Fresh Futures with some incredible raffle prizes ranging from non-alcoholic beverages to Tattinger Champagne. Keep an eye out for raffle prizes going on sale as this is one not to miss.

If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.