Hays Travel agents raise almost £30,000 for mental health charity

Agents at Hays Travel have raised almost £30,000 for a leading young people’s mental health charity through the company’s Local Community Partnership scheme.

Staff across the UK fundraising for YoungMinds have between them raised £29,500.

Each year, Hays Travel branches are provided with a £500 budget to use for fundraising and charity work in their local area; £200 of this is to be used to fundraise for charities which support young people’s mental health, and the other £300 can be used for other charities chosen by the branch.

Many branches have chosen to fundraise for YoungMinds, which supports young people struggling with their mental health.

Hays Travel branches organised a range of activities to raise the money, including the Longton team which made more than £1,000 by climbing Snowdon; the Weymouth team who raised £1,000 at a charity quiz night (main picture), and the Ashington team who organised a charity football tournament, bringing in £1,600.

Michelle Kerrigan, head of relationship development at YoungMinds, said: “We here at YoungMinds would like to send a big thank you to the team at Hays Travel who have done some amazing fundraising over the past few years to support our cause.

“The support has been incredible, so we wanted to pass on our sincere thanks and heartfelt appreciation to all the staff who have taken the time to fundraise for us.

“It costs around £15 for our Parents Helpline Service to provide one phone call to a parent or carer that contacts the helpline – £29,500 could help 1,960 parents or carers get the advice and support they need to help a young person in their life.”

Jane Schumm, Hays Travel retail director, added: “Hays Travel has always been dedicated to supporting the communities in which it operates, and helping where we can is part of our ethos.

“The Local Community Partnership scheme provides retail colleagues with a budget that they can use on fundraising and charity work in their local area.

“We ask that some of the budget goes on supporting charities who help young people with their mental health, so I was delighted to hear that our teams have raised a huge £29,500 for YoungMinds.”

In the last year, Hays Travel’s Local Community Partnership initiative across its retail network has donated more than £146,000 to local charities.

The Hays Travel Foundation was set up in 2015 and has donated more £1.8 million to help young people reach their potential across health, sport, the arts, and education.

Elsewhere, Hays Travel Allestree agents raised £740 for Bridge the Gap, a mental health charity in Derbyshire helping young people with emotional literacy.

They generated the funds by organising a quiz night and raffle at a local café.

Jennifer Wyman of Bridge the Gap said: “There aren’t words to express clearly enough just how much seeing people come together and fundraise for BTG means. The children in our city need us to sustain ourselves and be a beacon of hope for child mental health and we can’t do it alone.”

Travel consultant Emmie Insull said: “All of us at Hays Travel Allestree were so proud to see everyone come together to raise money for Bridge The Gap as this is an amazing local children’s charity. The night was so successful and we have already had customers asking when our next one will be.”

Main photograph, from left: Hays Travel Weymouth’s Isabella Long, Rachel Miners and Naydee-Mae Garland at their charity quiz night.

From left: Kelly Irvine, Olivia Kunneke, Arran Lewis, Lewis Hitchcock, Emmie Insull, Leonni Jennison and Madison Cain of Hays Travel Allestree.