Charity Praises Local Business Community

Last week YWCA Yorkshire attended the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber Means Business event at AESSEAL New York Stadium in Rotherham.  As a charity working with 250 vulnerable women, children and families in South Yorkshire, this was seen as an opportunity to meet local businesses, learn what they do, what they care about, and the investments they make in the communities they serve.  And the event didn’t disappoint. 

South Yorkshire is home to some incredible enterprises and Chamber Means Business was a showcase of the very best.  YWCA Yorkshire HR Manager Diane Offers, said: “We met so many incredible people. We spoke with small dynamic start-ups, who talked to us about the hands-on community fundraising they are involved in; SMEs who talked about the ways they use their skills and services to add social value, and much larger more corporate businesses who were keen to learn about our employee supported volunteering schemes and who invited us to engage with their in-house women-led groups.” 

 YWCA Yorkshire is a growing charity, ambitious for communities and constantly striving to offer the very best compassionate support, access to safe homes, and opportunities to create better futures. 

The charity does this by delivering excellent essential services with Local Authority and Housing Association partners, and by building strong relationships with businesses, community groups and other charities. Events like Chamber Means Business are an opportunity to meet and speak with people who are just as ambitious for the people living in South Yorkshire as YWCA Yorkshire is. 

The event was attended by HR Manager Diane Offers, Finance Manager Louise Dack and Charity Ambassador Zara Stanley. Zara moved to YWCA Yorkshire’s Fleming Gardens as a single parent in November 2020. She had been sleeping on a sofa for seven months and had an eight-month-old baby.  Zara has since moved on from Fleming Gardens and now lives in her own tenancy with her daughter. An inspirational woman and mother, Zara wanted to give something back to the charity that supported her through the difficult times and now helps YWCA Yorkshire by talking to people about her experiences and her successes. 

YWCA Yorkshire has supported thousands of women to find homes, leave abusive partners, address debt, build skills, return to education or work and raise happy and healthy children.  Often, the people accessing support don’t have family and friends to rely on in difficult times and YWCA Yorkshire is their lifeline. 

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out more about how we can work together to support more women like Zara to create better futures for themselves and their children, contact: diane.offers@ywcayorkshire.org.uk