Tesco colleagues across Yorkshire help raise over £22,500 for children’s mental health centre
Children with serious and complex mental health needs are set to benefit from an enormous £22,657 donation thanks to the hard work of Tesco colleagues across Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
To raise the funds, 25 participating Tesco stores each hosted an in-aisle static bike for a week, encouraging both colleagues and customers to jump on and help pedal their way to a 603-mile goal – the equivalent distance from John O’Groats to Land’s End.
The challenge initially sought to raise £5,000 for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity to support the Becton Centre at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, but this goal was quickly surpassed.
As planned, £5,000 of the money raised will fund two virtual reality headsets, which will serve as therapeutic tools for children receiving care at the Becton Centre.
The additional money raised, which totals over triple the original goal, will support the new Becton Courtyard Garden by funding custom-made seating for the space, as well as helping to finance a series of art workshops at Becton for young people to engage with creative activities such as gardening and recording music.
Holly Newton-Steele, Corporate Partnerships Officer at Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity, said: "At the charity, we're so grateful for the support from the 25 Tesco stores taking part in this challenge, and we’re bowled over by how much money they were able to raise.
“Tesco has been an incredible supporter of our work for years, and we're thrilled to continue our relationship with their fantastic colleagues. VR headsets are an example of the incredible innovation the charity supports at Sheffield Children's, thanks to fundraisers like Tesco.
"We’re incredibly grateful and truly overwhelmed by the generosity shown. This support means we can not only fund the VR headsets but also create new spaces for children and young people to relax as well as funding extra activities for them to get stuck into. Thank you so much to everyone who donated and supported us."
The Sheffield Children’s Becton Centre is a facility supporting children and young adults with complex mental health needs, offering inpatient services for those aged 8 to 18.
Frazer Askham, store manager at Tesco Pontefract, said: “Our colleagues and customers took on the ultimate cycling challenge and absolutely smashed it. They raised over £22,500, more than quadrupling our £5,000 target, all in support of the children and young people at the Becton Centre.
“The VR headsets, which were the original focus of our fundraiser, are a great piece of kit that can provide exposure therapy to help children tackle phobias, introduce ‘fear’ foods to those with eating disorders, let children rehearse everyday tasks - like buying a bus ticket – and provide immersive mindfulness and meditation programmes. It’s also been found that children talk more openly about distressing topics when engaged in activity, as it removes the expectation for eye contact.
“We were overwhelmed by the support from Tesco customers and are thrilled to have raised £17,657 past our target to help further support the important work at the Becton Centre. Thank you all so much, we couldn’t have done it without our amazing customers.”
The top three fundraising stores were Sheffield Dinnington, which raised £1,473, followed by Sheffield Extra and Rotherham Extra, each raising £1,300.
To find out more about the Becton Centre, visit https://www.sheffieldchildrens.nhs.uk/services/camhs/becton-school/ or https://www.sheffieldchildrens.nhs.uk/services/camhs/