An NCS team from Carlisle have raised over £750 for local charity, Happy Mums. The young people who were on their NCS three week experience spent their last week fundraising.
Happy Mums is a charity which supports women to be happy mums by offering a range of services designed to reduce the impact of maternal mental health problems such as anxiety, antenatal and postnatal depression in Carlisle and North Cumbria.
The team raised money by volunteering for head shaves, completing a sponsored walk and bag packing at a local supermarket. The donations when then used to purchase items to fill hampers with essentials for newborn babies which Happy Mums can then distribute as part of their work in our community.
Katherine Dalgliesh, Chief Executive and Amy Thompson, Deputy Chief Executive from Happy Mums were invited to the Inspira centre in Carlisle on Monday (5th of Sept) to receive the packages. Delighted with the amount of hampers the team had assembled Ms Dalgliesh took to Twitter afterwards to thank the team.
Deborah Beckett, a team member, said, “We wanted to do something unique. Being a new mum can bring some stress and anxiety and we wanted to provide a hamper that would bring smiles and let new mums know there is support out there.”
Louise Latta from Inspira said, “I have been lucky enough to see the teams through their whole journey. We all went on outdoor adventure week together and we then did independent living skills residential. I think they have developed some great skills which they have then put to use helping a great cause. It makes me really proud to be their Wave Leader when I see how hard they have worked and how much money they have raised.”
National Citizen Service (NCS) is a programme delivered by Inspira in summer and autumn in Cumbria and Lancashire. The personal and social development programme designed for 16 and 17 year olds is a three week or four week programme which involves an outdoor adventure residential, life skills residential and developing and delivering a social action.