Jahmene Douglas surprises My Sister's Place with National Lottery Award
6th August 2013
X Factor finalist Jahmene Douglas made a surprise visit today to domestic-abuse charity My Sister’s Place to congratulate its staff and volunteers on winning a National Lottery Award.
My Sister’s Place provides specialist support, advice and access to services for women who have suffered domestic violence. The issue is close to the X Factor finalist’s heart since he publicly shared his own experience of domestic abuse while in the finals of the show last year.
The charity saw off stiff competition from six other organisations to get 6714 public votes and be crowned the nation’s favourite voluntary/charity project in this year’s National Lottery Awards - the annual search to find the nation’s favourite Lottery-funded good causes.
Jahmene presented the award to Michelle Brown, Service Development Manager at My Sister’s Place and spoke to volunteers and women who have benefitted from the charity’s work.
During his visit Jahmene said: “Having witnessed domestic violence first-hand it is heartening to see My Sister’s Place winning this award and being recognised for the important work they do with Lottery funding, to help and support people in many different ways to get their life back. I hope this award helps to raise awareness of the issue and encourages more people to seek help.”
Michelle Brown, Service Development Manager at My Sister’s Place was stunned to see the pop star arrive through the charity’s door this morning and said: “I’m so thrilled to be holding this award and it was a truly wonderful surprise to meet Jahmene today as he in particular understands how vital our work is.
National Lottery funding has allowed us to help so many people and it was only made possible through people buying Lottery tickets so I’d like to thank the general public as they make a real difference to organisation’s like ours by playing the game every week.”
Notes to editors
About the charity:
My Sister’s Place provide support, advice and access to services for women who have suffered domestic abuse and are committed to campaigning and raising awareness of the issue.
The charity runs women’s ‘survivor’ groups and helps women understand their rights and can guide them through legal processes, personal safety, debt, housing problems, immigration difficulties, child contact issues and divorce.
National Lottery funding of £429,133 has helped the project to be a ‘One Stop Shop’ for victims of domestic abuse, offering crisis intervention, specialist counseling services and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors who address the needs of high risk victims. It has also been crucial in supporting the charity’s Sanctuary Scheme which is designed to prevent women becoming homeless as a result of domestic abuse.
About the Awards:
National Lottery players raise over £35 million a week and that money goes to support people and projects across the UK. The Awards are a great way to show Lottery players where their funding has gone and the life-changing difference playing the Lottery every week is making to communities across the UK.
There are seven categories in the Awards, reflecting the main areas of Lottery funding: arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sport, and voluntary/charity.
My Sister’s Place and the six other winners will be celebrated at a special star-studded ceremony broadcast on BBC One in September. Winners receive a £2,000 cash prize to spend on their project as well as a coveted National Lottery Awards trophy.
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For more information contact Lauren Connors on 0207 211 3991/07880 323 069 or email: Lauren.connors@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk