01 November 2024
One of SEFE Energy UK’s main charity partners for 2024 is the Manchester Youth Zone, a cause passionate about levelling the playing field, and a safe space for young people aged 8 to 19 to hang out.
MYZ is open when schools and colleges are shut and offers around 20 activities each day to keep young people entertained and engaged with their community, all while helping to build resilience and teach life skills essential to both employment and education.
Harpurhey is where MYZ makes its home, the second worst ward in England for the effect of long-term deprivation on children. This means many are vulnerable to poor educational attainment, future worklessness and falling into antisocial or offending behaviour.
It does great work all year round but particularly so during the summer break in the UK, where households face pressure to keep children both occupied and fed. All kids attending an MYZ session get a hot meal, and on busy days the centre can see hundreds of children coming through the door.
Throughout the year we’ve been fundraising to support MYZ, with everything from an office bake sale to an IT funding drive. Members of our team also ran for MYZ in the Manchester 10k back in May.
But our main challenge this year came in July, when more than 50 members of SEFE’s Manchester, London, Netherlands and Kassel offices climbed the famous Yorkshire Three Peaks to raise money for this fantastic cause, scaling an amazing 5000ft of ascent. Depending on the route the walk can be as long as a marathon, and to officially say they have completed the Three Peaks challenge participants must finish the route in under 12 hours.
With matched funding from SEFE we were delighted to raise a final total of £20,818, which we visited MYZ in person to announce – after a tour and a play around on their full-sized basketball court of course.
We were equally delighted to be invited along to MYZ’s 12th birthday party in October, where some of our Three Peaks participants were rewarded for their blisters and knee pain with performances from some of the young people the charity supports, a fun auction with prizes including Oasis tickets, and a delicious dinner.
We look forward to supporting MYZ until the end of 2024 and beyond, most importantly in early 2025 when the charity’s Harpurhey site will have its grand reopening and we’ll be able to see where our charity funding has been used.
You can read more about SEFE Energy UK’s charity focus and CSR policies here.