Recycling firm stepping up to help young people – could you join them?

Family-owned Countrystyle Recycling is calling on other local firms to join in backing the Young Lives Foundation (YLF) as part of its commitment to supporting communities across Kent and Medway.

In addition to the financial support from the company, a number of the Countrystyle team have signed up as volunteers to help mentor young people.

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YLF, an independent award-winning charity based in Maidstone, supports young people in the care system and vulnerable young adults by providing life-changing advocacy, mentoring, befriending and activity programmes across the county.

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Countrystyle, part of the Heathcote Group, has agreed to fund access to mentoring and befriending support for 20 young people. This follows the company’s earlier sponsorship of the charity’s awards programme.

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Chief Executive Martin Heathcote was introduced to the charity by his colleague Tony Godden, and met one of the charity’s trustees, Patrick Powell (Paddy), then 25 years old, who had been supported by YLF during his childhood.

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Impressed by Paddy’s positive attitude, Martin suggested to him that if he ever wanted a job he should get in touch. Already working in construction but looking to upskill, Paddy later successfully applied for a job with the company and, a year on, has become one of Countrystyle’s top drivers.

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Paddy’s role as a YLF trustee sees him give his time to help guide some of the young people the charity supports, as well as providing foster carers and social workers with an invaluable insight into what it’s like to be a child in care.

Martin said: “When Tony mentioned YLF, I was very interested in helping. Being very fortunate to have a great upbringing, spending time with the charity makes you realise how lucky we are to have love, discipline, and support. These are some basic things that are taken for granted when you are younger, but a lot of people YLF work with don’t have this support.”

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With the charity needing to raise £1 million per year to operate, the company is urging other Kent companies to support the great work of the 20-strong full-time team at the YLF. ony odden Chief inancial fficer of Countrystyle Recycling, said: “One per cent of Kent’s population are children in care, and government funding support for them has fallen over recent years, with charities like Young Lives Foundation having to step into the gap. The charity is playing its small part in breaking the cycle of one-in-four of the prison population in the country having been through the care system.”

Martin added: “It’s more than simply funding the mentoring, it’s about how we actively partner with the charity as a local business to do our bit to transform young lives by also giving our time.

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“If we can help change some of the lives of people who have not had the best of starts in life, then it makes me so happy. Seeing some of our staff volunteer to mentor has been a proud moment for me.”

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