Rausings donate £2.5mn to Cheshire charities
Melanie May | 26 October 2023 | News
Julia and Hans Rausing have donated £2.5 million to 19 charities based in Cheshire.
The charities provide support across youth care, education, disability, welfare, and restoration. The grants from the Julia & Hans Rausing Trust continue the Rausing’s support of the region and reflect Julia Rausing’s (née Delves-Broughton) long family affiliation with east Cheshire. They also follow a number of other donations this year including £2mn to disability charities in July.
The largest donation is £1.2 million, and will be made to Crewe Youth Zone. It is building a new youth centre in the town centre, and the funds will help support the first three year’s running costs and enable it to create up to 70 full and part-time jobs, and up to 100 volunteering opportunities.
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Crewe Youth Zone is expected to be completed in spring 2025 and will be open seven days a week to young people aged between eight and 19. Members will have access to an indoor climbing wall, a four-court sports hall, a training kitchen, a music room with a recording studio, a fully-equipped gym, dance and drama studio, a 3G sports pitch, an arts and crafts room, and an enterprise and employability suite. Once opened, Crewe Youth Zone will be part of the OnSide Network of Youth Zones supporting more than 50,000 young people nationwide.
Commenting on the donation Joëlle Warren, Trustee of Crewe Youth Zone and Vice Lord Lieutenant for Cheshire said:
“Crewe Youth Zone is profoundly grateful for the extraordinarily generous gift of £1.2 million from Julia and Hans Rausing and for their past support during the pandemic.
“This generous donation will initiate a Founder Patron campaign designed to achieve long-term sustainability, ensuring Crewe Youth Zone will be an asset to the community and transforming young people’s lives for generations to come. We warmly welcome them as our first Cornerstone Patron and greatly look forward to them being a partner in our journey.”
The other charities benefitting include:
- St Luke’s (Cheshire) Hospice
- The Wingate Special Children’s Trust
- CWA/Cheshire Without Abuse
- St Marys Church, Nantwich
- Cheshire Community Foundation
- Pure Insight
Julia and Hans Rausing said in a joint statement:
“Cheshire bears great significance to our family, which is why we have chosen to partner with these 19 charities in the region, all rooted in their local communities.
“These grants cover a broad range of charities to help those most in need across Cheshire. Supporting the new Youth Zone in Crewe will provide young people with a new state-of-the-art facility and will help develop vital skills for life.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.