50 more holidays for Derbyshire children after much-loved charity gets £28k boost

A much-loved Derbyshire charity giving seaside holidays to children who need them has been given a welcome boost with a £28,000 donation.

The funding boost for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has come courtesy of not-for-profit procurement providers EEM (Efficiency East Midlands Ltd).

Alfreton-based EEM, a consortium with members ranging from local authorities to the NHS – which helps drive cost efficiency in the public sector through efficient procurement – chose the holiday centre as its latest adopted charity, making it a key beneficiary at its latest awards ceremony.

Charity trustee Joanna West received the £28,100 cheque at the Building Communities Awards which celebrate excellence and professionalism in the housing and construction industry.

Joanna said:

“I was absolutely delighted to be presented with a cheque for £28,100 – in fact, I was completely overwhelmed! I am incredibly grateful to EEM for making Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre a charity of the year. Thanks to the generosity of all those who donated around 50 children will benefit from a much-needed holiday.”

EEM was able to make the donation with profits from the event plus further fundraising on the night from an auction and raffle.

Total funds raised were split equally between the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre and MLSS (Midland Langar Seva Society) which provides hot meals to those in need across 16 cities.

The holiday centre had been put forward for the donation through long-term supporters of Derby Homes.

Rebecca Dermody-Simmons, chief executive of EEM, said:

“Our organisation has social value delivery at its heart and the charitable donations we make through our awards ceremony are an important part of that.

“Everyone at the Building Communities Awards was so generous at the ceremony. We managed to raise an incredible amount that we divided between the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre and MLSS, two excellent charities which are doing great work helping people who really need support. Thank you so much to all our member organisations and suppliers who dug deep into their pockets on the night.”

The Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has been going for 132 years and provides five-day stays at its specialist home in Skegness. Children are nominated to have a week at ‘Skeggy home’ if it is felt they may not otherwise get a break, due to financial hardship or other reasons such as being a young carer.

Charity chairman Alan Grimadell said:

“This is an amazing donation from EEM, which will enable us to put so many more smiles on the faces of children from our county who are badly in need of a break – and may not otherwise get one with the rise in the cost of living, spiralling energy costs, and everything else that is affecting so many in our society.

“At our centre, we aim to give children the chance to just be children for a week, enjoying time in the fresh air and sunshine, looked after by our caring staff. Headteachers tell us that a week at the much-loved Skeggy home does children the power of good and they come back full of tales about their experiences. Thanks to the generosity of EEM members and suppliers, we will be able to keep doing our valuable work.”

EEM has been giving large sums to charitable causes from its awards ceremony since 2015. Previous beneficiaries have included Steps Conductive Education Centre in Loughborough, which helps children with motor disorders such as cerebral palsy; Dementia UK, Rhubarb Farm in Mansfield, which helps people with long-term issues grow their own fruit and veg, and Little Hearts Matter, a Birmingham-based charity that helps families where there has been a diagnosis of a single ventricle heart condition or half a working heart.