Last call to win £1,000 cash for your nominated good cause

Get your skates on if you want to clinch the cash in the first donation from the Idlewells Community Fund Scheme.

Wednesday is the final day for local people to nominate a local good cause for the first £1000.

The closing deadline for the scheme run in partnership with the Ashfield Chad, has been extended from 5.30pm to midnight on Wednesday 16th July,

After that nominations will no longer be accepted, and all nominations will be collated for consideration.

Every quarter for the next year, the Idlewells will donate a generous £1,000 to a cause nominated by Chad readers.

Recipients could be a locally-based charity, schools that need money for a particular project or any organisation that helps, supports or is run for the benefit of local people.

Each quarter, representatives from the Idlewells and Chad will select the winning nomination and present them with a much-needed £1,000 donation.

A spokesman for Idlewells said it has long been as a huge supporter of local groups and charities and this regular event will allow it to take this even further and really make a difference to local projects.

A panel has been put together to consider all nominations, made up of representatives from The Idlewells Shopping Centre and The Mansfield and Ashfield Chad.

Assistant manager at Idlewells, Chloe O’Donnel said: “We have set criteria to help us to choose a worthy cause.

“Need and the number of local people benefitting are going to be key elements of this, but all those nominated will be carefully considered.”

With 95 nominations already made, via email and the Idlewells’ facebook and website, organisers are hoping to reach 100 by close of play on Wednesday.

Chloe added: “As well as providing the most deserving nomination with the £1,000 donation, we hope to be able to give others nominated a helping hand in ways that we can through our centre, our website and our thriving facebook page.”

All nominated charities, groups and organisations that are not successful in securing this Community Fund donation will be urged to enter future opportunities under the same scheme.

Next week we will provide a full list of all nominated causes, before announcing the winner in The Chad on 30th July.

Any last minute nominations should be made to: [email protected] or via the Idlewells website; www.idlewells.co.uk.

Nominations flooding in include these worthy contenders:

Think Children, nominated by Sarah Habermass, Strategy Manager, who explained: Think Children is a charity offering an early intervention service for 4-11 year olds with emerging emotional, social and/or behavioural issues. We work with a wide range of presenting issues such as relationship issues, parental separation, bullying, bereavement, and low self-esteem.

“We fill a gap in local services as parents/carers tell us that nobody wants to know until it’s too late.

“A donation would make a real difference to vulnerable children in the Mansfield & Ashfield area, allowing us to offer sessions and items for playkits used in these that help to prevent their negative experiences translating into poor outcomes.

Sutton teenager Jordan Turner nominated his own activity for homeless people. He said: “Hello, I’m Jordan, 16 years old from Sutton.

“I have been helping the homeless recently and have appeared in the Mansfield Chad because of this. The money could help me buy clothes, food, drinks, blankets etc for the less fortunate.

“I would not want a penny of the money, as I would like to spend it on them to make their lives a little bit better.

“They are all living in terrible condition and I believe everyone should have a second chance.”

Link Club 2000, is nominated by Gill Guy. Gill said: “My name is Gill Guy and I live in Sutton.

“I have 2 sons and a daughter who all have learning difficulties.

“One of my sons attends a Friday evening youth club for adults with learning disabilities called Link Club 2000 and he absolutely loves attending as do all the other adults who attend.

“It is solely run on donations and would benefit greatly from the chance of being the lucky recipient your community fund.

“They would be able to arrange summer outings/day trips/picnics etc or other activities which are limited because of lack of funds available.

“The adults with learning disabilities would greatly benefit from this.

“I have details of the clubs committee chairman etc if you need them.”