A Kildare mother has set up a charity shop to help raise awareness for mental health and help fund her mental health charity.
newsCharlotte Wolfe has worked in charity shops before and often campaigns for wellness in Newbridge, saying she’s known for spreading the word.
She thought to set up the shop in memory of late teen Ben Moran called Mindsmatter.
Ben Moran passed away at the age of 18 and had a song dedicated to him by Ed Sheeran in 2018.
The musician came to Dublin that summer and, after months of campaigning, Charlotte was thrilled to hear the songwriter dedicate his hit Photograph to Ben.
‘It’s something I’m very passionate about,’ she said after mentioning that suicide is on the rise in Newbridge.
‘Everyone has been very generous in Newbridge, offering stuff for the shop, but we have no where to store it.’
Charlotte, chairperson of Mindsmatter, has much of the work in setting up a charity shop and is now looking into making it a registered charity with the help of the board’s accountant.
Charlotte and the board have set up a Facebook page to keep locals updated and they hope to raise some money to put into the shop.
She explained that they have held various events to raise money for the shop, including bucket donations in a local supermarket and a pub will be hosting a coffee morning.
The mother told Extra.ie: ‘I’m not going to give up. I know there’s a market for this.
‘This is something in the community for the community.’
To stay up to date and to get in touch, whether it be donations or if you have storage available to Charlotte and the board, you can reach out on their Facebook page here.
Those who are affected by the issues raised by this article can contact the Pieta House Helpline on 1800 247 247 The Samaritans on 116 123 or Aware on 1800 80 48 48
