Who are The Y?

The Y’s core purpose is to provide young people around Leicester with the building blocks for a rewarding life. This starts with a safe home and acceptance, with support, guidance, opportunities and friendship, but many young people are missing one or all of these vital pillars.

The Y employs around 100 people across their wide range of services, from housing for young people to programmes designed to help young people to get into work, including their Lottery-funded programme, Y Heritage Legacy, which helps young people find paid work in local heritage projects.

As well as housing and employment opportunities, The Y provides vital support and outreach services to help young people suffering from mental health problems, substance abuse, and those involved in or at risk of becoming involved in serious crime.

Their tireless work is a cornerstone of the local community here in Leicester, and it’s part of the reason why we were so proud to make them our charity of the year for 2024.

Supporting The Y

Giving back is a core part of our ethos at Rock Kitchen Harris, and we’ve supported The Y throughout 2024 with a range of fundraising events and ideas. In February, a group of us took part in The Big Sleep Out, spending the night sleeping pitchside at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium and raising £1,725 in the process.

Through Big Give, we made a contribution of £30 per employee, which was matched by Big Give, to help The Y raise £25,000 for their ‘Roots to Resilience’ project. The money allowed The Y to transform a disused garden into a space for the YMCA’s residents to learn new skills, meet new people, and grow food.

When we closed our offices for good and became a fully remote agency, we donated some of our office furniture to help fit out The Y’s housing around the city. The furniture we provide helped to furnish a young woman’s first flat, which shows just how important these types of donations are.

We then took part in their region-wide shoebox campaign. The RKH team donated snacks, toiletries, arts supplies, gift sets, and cosy socks and gloves, to ensure all their residents have a meal and a gift this Christmas.

The challenges of Christmas

As the festive season gets closer, many of us will be excitedly making plans, buying gifts, and looking forward to getting together with friends and family. Around Leicester, there are plenty of young people who don’t have those luxuries, and for them, The Y is an absolutely vital provider of warmth and care during this difficult time. You can donate online to give a meal and a present to someone in need by clicking here.

The Y and charities like them need all the support they can get in order to provide the services that are so important to vulnerable people in our community. From the costs of supporting their service users to the need for supplies for their facilities, running a charity of this kind requires consistent backing from the wider community.

It’s been a privilege to support The Y throughout 2024. If you’d like to make a donation to help them care for young people throughout Leicestershire, you can do so here.