Stand-in speaker Amy Allcock gave an overview of the charity Love4Life to Leicester Novus Rotary which she joined in September 2020 as a marketing and community fundraising officer.
The Loughborough University-based 400-metre runner, whose Tokyo Olympics were dashed by a badly damaged Achilles tendon, explained that Love4Life was launched in 2008 and is currently helping about 300 girls and young women aged 11 to 18 cope with difficulties they encounter
With in-school and out-of-school sessions and 1-2-1 counselling, the young people are helped with sex education, mental health, relationships, body image and family difficulties. The charity has a staff of 11 assisted by volunteers and an annual budget of about £300,000, some of which has come from Children In Need, the National Lottery and local businesses. It costs about £30 to cover the cost of each 1-2-1 counselling session, about £100 for an arts or cooking session, which the young people find very therapeutic, and about £500 to run a community group.
Love4Life is active in several schools and communities in Leicester, Loughborough and Derby and is intending to extend into other areas.
In the lengthy discussion after Amy’s first-ever presentation to a Rotary Club, members suggested various ways in which they would be willing to collaborate with Love4Life.
The members wished athlete Amy a speedy recovery and agreed that her career as a speaker to Rotary clubs had got off to a flying start.
Last edited: 10:30pm on Thursday, 12/05/2022
