The Leanne Fund to extend its services to help children in Lanarkshire

The Leanne Fund Development Project has been awarded £68,423 from The National Lottery Community Fund to expand personalised support services to a wide swathe of the central belt.

Currently the fund offers holistic support services including counselling, complementary therapies and wellbeing activity, alongside financial and family crisis support across the Highlands and Islands, Tayside and Grampian.

The funding will allow the project to extend its reach to support around 175 children and their families through expansion into Lanarkshire, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and A yrshire and Arran over the next two years.

Funding will be used to cover the appointment of a new project officer who will take the project forward to produce positive outcomes for families around improved physical/mental well-being, reduced isolation and increased resilience.

Chrisetta Mitchell, co-founder and development manager of The Leanne Fund, said: “We are so delighted to have received this award from The National Lottery Community Fund to support the next development phase of The Leanne Fund.

"We’re excited to work with the Cystic Fibrosis teams across three new NHS regions of Scotland to bring vital support services to their patients.

“The project will undoubtedly contribute to the overall health and well-being of people with CF in these new regions by offering free direct access to exercise equipment and other lifeline services that cannot be offered on the NHS.

“CF brings its own unique challenges and with more families than ever feeling financial pressures, we want to do all we can to help.”

Jayne Macdonald, Treasurer of The Leanne Fund board, was also delighted.

She said : “The funding from The National Lottery Community Fund allows us to now expand and help patients in Lanarkshire, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Ayrshire and Arran – three areas we have long known would benefit greatly from the services offered by The Leanne Fund.

"We are delighted to now be able to start helping CF patients and their families in these Health Board areas and it marks yet another exciting stage in the development and expansion of The Leanne Fund.

"It is exc iting for us to be able to expand The Leanne Fund team with the appointment of a project support officer in the near future."

The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Chair, Kate Still, added: “This project delivered by The Leanne Fund is a great example of community activity in action, showing just what can be achieved when people come together for a common cause or to help others.

"It’s all thanks to National Lottery players that we can help give charities and community groups throughout Scotland greater certainty during challenging times.”

The Leanne Fund feels incredibly proud to see its vision become a reality and to be in a position to make a difference across Scotland. It is hoped the new project will commence in April.