Our Endowment Fund in collaboration with Hertfordshire Community Foundation, helps support children, health and local community projects primarily within the geographic area of Hertfordshire but also Bedfordshire. One of our recent grants is helping to support local charity Leeanna’s Wish.
Leeanna’s Wish was inspired by Cleo Leeanna, who lost her fight with cancer in 2016. The charity was set up by Leeanna’s sister who wanted to help achieve Leeanna’s ultimate dream of helping people in her local community.
Leeanna’s Wish provides support for protected groups living in and around St Albans. From grass roots level to influencing social policy, they are dedicated to combatting inequality. Their principal aim is to enable those most at risk of social exclusion to develop essential life skills and access a range of services in the wider community. Their projects enable young people to develop the tools that they need to feel more confident to have their say in their own future. The charity creates safe spaces and environments where individuals can learn, play, create and develop their life skills to access future opportunities in education and work and have successful lives. Their inter-generational programmes aim to engage, empower, and promote social interaction and friendships.
Our grant of £5,000 will be used towards the running and staff costs of the thriving Saturday Club that the charity runs. The Saturday Club supports children/young people aged 10-16 from in and around Sopwell (an area with higher than average levels of deprivation). These young people are more likely to face significant challenges which may result in bullying, social exclusion and poor health. Saturday Club is provided weekly in term-time at a school in Sopwell. Sessions are free of charge and last for 2 hours. The Club provides several activities concurrently to ensure that there is something to engage everyone. This includes games, sport, art, and music.
Saturday Club is a safe space and a welcoming, inclusive environment where participants can try new things and it’s safe to fail. Staff bring wisdom, fun, and unique skills whilst using activities as tools of engagement. Whilst the young people are engaged, staff talk informally about issues which may be impacting their wellbeing – racism, discrimination at school, emotional wellbeing, triggers etc. Around 30 young people attend weekly.
The charity has other projects too, including a weekly Community Cafe, monthly Friday Night Socials, Friday Cinema Café (warm spaces), Empower Women’s Football sessions and numerous other community events.
Leeanna’s Wish was a finalist in the 2022 Mayor’s Pride Awards for Cultural Innovation. They also received the Prime Ministers points of light award in 2023, and further featured in a book as a result of the impact of their women's football programme https://www.amazon.co.uk/Homecoming-Lionesses-Football-Perfect-Celebrate/dp/1801504849. In addition, they received a commendation for the 2023 BBC make a difference award in the together category.
We are thrilled to provide this grant to Leeanna’s Wish and fully enjoyed our recent visit which saw us view their community café in action and also learning all about the Saturday club.
To find out more, you can visit the Leeanna’s Wish website here: https://www.leeannaswish.org/
You can view all our recent grants to local charities on our Endowment Fund Page