The New Year has brought a fantastic start to Maidstone charity Maidstone and Mid-Kent Mind (MMKM) thanks to a generous donation from Vanquis Bank.
For Christmas, members of staff from Vanquis Bank came together to perform a cover of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’. The intention was to spread the video as far as possible – raising awareness of mental health problems and the support out there for them, whilst also raising a donation of £1 for each like of the video.
The video performed above expectations – reaching 10,179 views on Facebook, with 705 likes. It also received 1,541 likes on Instagram and 194 on LinkedIn – totalling 2,440 views. Vanquis then turned these 2,440 views into a £2,500 donation.
Julie Blackmore, CEO at MMKM, said: “We are delighted to be supported by Vanquis Bank in raising awareness of mental health. The funds raised will be used to further support local people. We are looking forward to forming a close partnership with Vanquis Bank over the coming year to look at ways at supporting both customers and employees.”
James Appleby, Operations Director at Vanquis Bank, said: “The work that MIND do is inspiring for us as a business and it is also becoming ever more relevant to how we support our own colleagues and customers. Having the opportunity to support the charity over Christmas was the highlight of the festive period for a lot of our colleagues and certainly the best teambuilding session I have been involved in.”
MMKM hope to continue to build a portfolio of accessible mental health services throughout the Maidstone and Mid-Kent area in 2019 – providing individuals in need with the support they need to make a positive and proactive difference.