A local charity that empowers young people to build confidence and make positive choices in their health, relationships and education has received a cash boost thanks to a donation from Persimmon.

Persimmon Homes North Midlands has awarded Love4Life a £1,000 grant as they continue to help local groups and charities in the area.

Persimmon donates up to £64,000 a month to fund initiatives as part of the highly successful Community Champions scheme.

Operating since 2007, Love4Life specialises in supporting vulnerable teenage girls to develop their self-esteem and form positive and empowering relationships.

The charity engages with girls creatively and socially in Love4Life groups and provides one-to-one solution-focused coaching, which encourages them to take personal responsibility and use their strengths to build towards a goal.

Joanna Burrows, from the charity, said: “We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Persimmon Homes for this extremely generous donation.

“We support girls who are depressed, self-harming, lonely and in some cases, suicidal. Our support is honest and age-appropriate, helping young people to understand their sexual health, how to stay safe and the potential risk of sexual exploitation.

“This £1,000 donation will help pay for room hire, travel expenses, resources for art, craft, cooking activities, and refreshments for a group in our Afro Caribbean Centre in Leicester.

“We also need more groups and volunteers to deal with the extra demand caused by girls’ poor mental health during the pandemic. Around 93% of girls referred to us by schools and social services are disadvantaged and over half are at risk of exclusion.

“Once we work with these children almost none are actually excluded and over 90% of children improve in self-esteem and confidence after three months.

“We know young people, especially girls and the most disadvantaged, have been badly affected by Covid restrictions and thanks to Persimmon we can continue to offer targeted relationship and sex education support in 2022.”  

Nadine O''Dowd, sales director at Persimmon Homes North Midlands, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Love4Life with our first Community Champions donation of the year.

“Having spoken to Joanna, I knew straight away that she is passionate and enthusiastic about her work. By encouraging positive self-worth, body image and the handling of emotions, the team can help local young people become more resilient and confident as they grow up.

“It’s really rewarding to be able to donate this £1,000 to those who are much less fortunate and have had an extremely difficult 18 months during the pandemic.”

For more information visit www.persimmonhomes.com, or to apply for Community Champions funding visit www.persimmonhomes.com/charity.