More Than £6,000 Given To Support Isle Of Wight Youth Trust

More than £6,000 has been given to support the Isle of Wight Youth Trust.

NFU Mutual Agents and their staff at the local Isle of Wight Agency in Newport recently nominated the Isle of Wight charity to receive a donation of more than £6,450 from a national £2million ‘Agency Giving Fund’ launched by NFU Mutual. 

NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, announced a £2million fund in February to help local frontline charities during 2021.

This follows £1million of support delivered by NFU Mutual’s Agency Giving Fund in 2020, which helped charities across many sectors to keep their life-changing services going throughout the pandemic. 

To ensure these donations reach all corners of the UK and are directed where they’re needed most, NFU Mutual’s Agents, with over 300 offices nationwide, have been given the opportunity to nominate local charities to receive a share of the fund.

The funds are being distributed over 16 weeks from the end of February, offering support as the impact of the pandemic continues to impact our communities.

The donation has enabled the Youth Trust to deliver counselling and early intervention mental health support to young Islanders, in the face of increasing demand for their services.

John Heather, Senior Agent for the New Forest, Isle of Wight and Bournemouth Agency explained that COVID-19 continues to have a huge impact locally, he said:

“Having considered over 65 nominations we have decided to focus the donations for our three offices on charities that are helping to look after the health and well-being of young people locally.

"The Isle of Wight Youth Trust have been making a wonderful difference to young people in our community during these challenging times, and we feel extremely proud to be able to support their efforts.”

Felicity Radak, the Youth Trust’s Advocacy and Development Manager said:

“We’re enormously thankful to the Isle of Wight agency of NFU Mutual for nominating our charity to receive a donation from the NFU Mutual Agency Giving Fund.  The money has gone a long way to helping us support our young people, and their families through an exceptionally difficult time. 

"Since lockdown restrictions began to ease in March, we have seen over 100 young people reaching out to us each month for support. With the demand for our work ever increasing, we simply could not deliver the services we do without the support of our community and the support of locally minded businesses like NFU Mutual. 

"We would also like to thank the High Sheriff, James Attrill, for championing youth mental health and putting us forward to NFU Mutual for this grant.”

James Attrill, said:

 “As the High Sheriff for the Isle of Wight this year I have made the matter of mental health my priority – particularly for young people. The whole subject of mental health has been rising up the agenda in recent years and post-Covid it has to be at the top. The Youth Trust, along with many great mental health charities, have a fantastic track record of providing accessible front-line mental health services to children & young adults. This award from the NFU Mutual will be a huge boost.”