The Leeds Mind Fundraising Appeal has come to an end – how much did we raise and what’s next?

Our community banded together and raised an amazing £22,581.50!  

This is the total at the time of writing, and we know there are even more donations still coming in. What a fantastic result! 

We knew our initial target of £50k was extremely ambitious, especially at a time when both individuals and organisations are dealing with the uncertainty caused by coronavirus. But we felt we needed to be bold and aim high for our community.  

It is thanks to this ambition, as well as the hard work of our team and all our generous supporters that we were able to raise such a fantastic amount. We are blown over by what our community has achieved together and couldn’t be more grateful.  

Nick and Lucy Milligan, 2 Minds Together, 100km Challenge  

Husband and wife team Nick & Lucy, who produce the 2 Minds Together blog, put on their trainers at the beginning of March and challenged themselves to run 100k between them throughout the month.  

Unfortunately Nick picked up an injury at the beginning of the challenge resulting in Lucy covering a few extra miles but he was soon back on track and they completed the 100km on 31st March raising an amazing £490.  

As well as raising money for us, their blog is doing some fantastic work in getting people talking about mental health, so we’d encourage you to check it out. Thank you, Nick and Lucy! 

Adam Wider, 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge 

took on the physically and mentally demanding David Goggins 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge which involved running 4 miles, every 4 hours for 48hours (imagine that!) Adam managed to raise an incredible £2110.07, so thank you to Adam as well as everyone who supported him and cheered him on.  

LCC Healthy Minds, 500km during March 

Leeds City Council Healthy Minds is the LCC staff group encouraging people to share more about mental health, and promoting good mental wellbeing. The team took on the challenge to collectively walk 500km during March. Their final distance as an incredible 810km and although this was a virtual event this was an amazing team building and morale boosting challenge raising £567.00. Well done and thank you, team LCC Healthy Minds! 

Neil Vary, Virtual Land’s End to John O’Groats  

Neil Vary set himself an incredible challenge of virtually cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats in just 8 weeks. Neil is already ahead of schedule and as of 31st March had already covered 542 miles out of 1,083.80 so far his fundraising total is £649.55. He’s also been posting some brilliant photos on his Instagram account, @neilvaryphotography, so head over there to follow his progress right to the end.  

Sainsburys Local Hyde Park, raffle prizes 

The at Sainburys Local Hyde Park kindly supported our appeal by donating a fabulous hamper full of chocolate and wine and prosecco valued at over £70. The hamper was raffled and the prize was delivered just in time for easter! The raffle entries raised £190, so thanks so much to the Sainsburys team for getting creative in their support.  

Filthy Soup, donating proceeds from HUGS tee 

Filthy Soup designs and sells a collection of fun, bold, honest artwork for cards, tees, hoodies and more are kindly donating the profits from the sale of the “HUGS” t–shirt. Take a look at this amazing tee and visit their online shop https://www.filthysoup.com/products/mens-unisex-hugs-tee Thanks so much to Marianne of Filthy Soup for their support, and to anyone who has bought a tee. 

Hook Yarn & Ginger, donating for every sale of Positivipeas  

Hook Yarn & Ginger sells lovingly handmade crochet items, from blankets to teddies and much in-between. During March, for every bag of 10 of their amazing Positivipeas sold, business owner Charli donated £2 to support the #LeedsMind50kAppeal. If you’d like to get your hands on some of these guys or to take a look at what else is on offer visit: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/HookYarnAndGinger?ref=shop_sugg Thank you to Hook Yarn & Ginger and all of Charli’s customers! 

Leeds University School of Law, Move in March   

Staff and students at Leeds Uni’s School of Law set themselves the challenge to “Move in March”. The challenge asked staff and students to walk, run and cycle as far as possible during 2 weeks. The group raised a fantastic £514 – thank you to everyone who got involved and supported! 

Matthew Lawson, walking challenge 

rediscovered his love of waking during the last 12 months and the positive benefits it has had on his own mental health – so pulled on his walking boots at the beginning of March with the challenge of completing 310miles during the month – I’m delighted to say he completed his challenge ahead of schedule and even added a few extra miles on the final day 😊 raising £330.00 

Ruby Brannon, 26mile Cycle  

14-year-old Ruby from Leeds saw our 50k appeal and chose to cycle an amazing 26 miles on Saturday 27th March. The weather wasn’t on her side but this didn’t stop her completing her amazing challenge and raising a fantastic £290.00. Well done and thank you, Ruby! And thanks to all your supporters.  

Faser Bramley, Gaming Live Stream 

Faser Bramley, or tz1epiczzz, hosted a Live stream playing Minecraft on PC for over 36 hours. Faser and his supporters raised an amazing £201 – thank you, Faser! Hope you’ve caught up on your sleep now!