It was a year ago we sent out a big ask. We needed £100,000 to embark on a project for vulnerable youth called Legacy Lodge and today the build is happening! - walls are up, windows and doors are in, and it's pretty much watertight!
But who needs Legacy Lodge?
Melina is a teen from a single-parent family. Her mum is trying her best to survive doing three low-paid jobs and working all hours - but this has come at a high price for Melina whose behaviours went unnoticed.
By 12 years old Melina was keeping bad company, staying out all night, and regularly smoking drugs. She'd stopped going to school and she was having thoughts of suicide.
Melina’s mum, desperate for help with her troubled daughter, contacted the Dasha's Youth Group. To help this family it was agreed that Melina would stay at the crisis centre for a time. Ideally, if Legacy Lodge was finished, she'd stay there among people her own age.
Melina is now off drugs and is being helped to repair the damaged relationship with her mum. “She is learning to cook, catching up on her missed education and loves caring for the smaller children in our gang. We discovered she's an excellent artist too!" - Dasha.
Dasha encounters many young people like Melina from homes where poverty causes behaviours that stem from disadvantage. Now 17, Melina is feeling hopeful about her future.
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