Malcolm Green from James Smith funeral directors, Lesley Paddy, mother of Will, and Elise Basing from the funeral directors.
Dorset’s Douch Family Funeral Directors presented a cheque of more than £4,500 to its 2022 charity of the year – #WillDoes.
The charity is dedicated to the memory of Will Paddy whose life ended in 2019 aged just 14.
His mum Lesley launched #WillDoes to help young people who find life tough or are struggling to cope.
Since it began in December 2019 the charity has raised nearly 300,000 and has bought a double-decker bus that has been converted into a mobile youth club.
Currently the Community Bus operates in Weymouth and Portland, but in future Lesley hopes to run it across all of Dorset.
It cost just over £100,000 and now includes bean bags, a huge TV plus a break-out room.
Lesley was presented with the cheque for £4,516.53 by staff at Douch Family Funeral Directors’ Swanage branch, James Smith.
Lesley said: “We are so grateful to the business for choosing us to be its charity of the year.
“One of the major things we have done is to buy and convert the community bus.
“Dorset Youth Services staffs it with professionals so it can help young people with their mental well-being.
“Being mobile it can of course go to the places where the young people are, which makes it easier for them to access the help offered.
“We also make charitable donations to other charities and individuals which help young people with mental wellbeing through activities.”
Among the charity’s ambassadors are ex-SAS TV star Jason Fox, Sandra Redknapp, and Olympians William Fox-Pitt MBE, Jami Nicholls and Victoria Pendleton.
Malcolm Green from the funeral directors’ Swanage branch James Smith, said: “We did all sort of things across our branches to raise money for #WillDoes including sponsored events and quiz nights
“It is a fine charity that works extremely hard to help young people across Dorset.”
Douch Family Funeral Directors has seven branches in Wimborne, Poole, Blandford, Swanage, Wareham, Corfe Mullen and Ferndown.
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For more information contact Ed Baker on 07788393965 or ed.baker@deepsouthmedia.co.uk
Note to editors: Douch Family Funeral Directors have been helping families with funeral arrangements for over 100 years. Branches include Douch & Small, A E Jolliffe & Son, Albert Marsh, James Smith, Ives & Shand and Lesley Shand Funeral Service. They’re based in Wimborne, Ferndown, Wareham, Poole, Swanage, Blandford and Corfe Mullen.
