Staff from a pension fund raised £10,000 for a Croydon mental health charity over a year.

Pension Protection Fund (PPF) presented local charity Mind in Croydon with the donation by cheque, the result of employees' fundraising over the last 12 months.

Councillor Janet Campbell, mental health champion for the Borough of Croydon and Bernadette Khan, Mayor of Croydon, also joined the celebration, where PPF employees revealed the fundraising total to Richard Pacitti, CEO of Mind in Croydon and some of the charity’s service users.

The PPF, which has its head office on Dingwall Road in East Croydon, partnered with Mind in Croydon as its organisational charity for 2018/19.

In building a calendar of fundraising events and getting hands on with local volunteering opportunities, the goal was to help Mind in Croydon fund and run its services for local people with mental health problems and to help break down the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Richard Pacitti, Chief Executive Officer at Mind in Croydon said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with our friends at PPF over the last year. Staff there have taken a real interest in the work that we do and have become involved in directly helping a number of the people that we support.

"This interaction has created enormous benefits for the charity, the people we support and, I hope, has made the whole process much more rewarding for the staff at PPF."

PPF staff raised the money through a variety of fundraising events over the year, including bake sales, football tournaments, a 5k run and quiz nights, as well as completing volunteering projects to support the charity. The PPF allows employees up to five days a year off work to volunteer for good causes.

One of the most personal projects took place in July 2018 when Mind in Croydon asked PPF volunteers to help a service user and their family who were at risk.

A small team of dedicated PPF employees spent a day clearing out the family’s home and cleaning everything to make it safe and suitable for living.

PPF volunteers also gave their time at the Mind in Croydon Hub, a drop-in centre where service users are able to take part in groups and activities to help boost their confidence, as well as discuss their mental health needs and meet other people.

Oliver Morley, Chief Executive Officer at the PPF said: “We’re very proud to have achieved so much for Mind in Croydon.

"To say that it’s been a busy year of charitable activity for the PPF would be an understatement.

"Our people have thrown themselves into the challenge and have developed so much passion for the charity that they’ve voted to partner with Mind in Croydon for a second year; a third with a mental health charity.

"It gives me great pleasure to lead an organisation of people who care about making a difference in the community.”