Rushden Lakes announces Charity of the Year

The Never Alone Project, Northamptonshire’s leading bereavement charity, has been selected as Rushden Lakes’ inaugural charity partner for 2025/26.

Earlier this year, Northamptonshire charities had the opportunity to apply to partner with Rushden Lakes to become its first-ever Charity of the Year. The initiative invited applicants to detail their charity’s aims, provide a brief history, and explain how they would utilise the benefits offered by the destination.

The new program will provide several benefits for the charity throughout the year, from May 2025 to March 2026. Benefits include social media and digital support, a Customer Service collection box, outdoor event space, use of the Rushden Lakes Community Sheds, on-site advertising opportunities, and more – all free of charge.

Donna French, Rushden Lakes Centre Manager, said, “We were delighted to launch our Charity of the Year initiative, and crown The Never Alone Project (TNAP) as our partner for 2025/26.

TNAP will benefit from enhanced visibility, fundraising opportunities and volunteering from our Rushden Lakes team members. We will continue to work with other charities throughout the year, but we have launched this new initiative to prioritise one charity to receive our dedicated time and enhanced benefits.

We were blown away by all the charity’s enthusiasm and passion, and we have huge respect for everything they do in the community in their own unique way. Our judging process highlighted how lucky we are to live in such a caring and supportive community, and we would like to thank everyone who applied and took part.”

A staggering 34 charities applied to partner with Rushden Lakes and work together with the local community to raise awareness of the vital work being carried out. After all applications had been judged, ten charities were invited to the destination to meet the team, to discuss the partnership and learn more about each other’s values and purpose.

The final three charities in the running were then asked to present their ‘big idea’ – an event or activity they could run at the Lakes. All applications and presentations were judged and scored at every stage of the three stage process by the same members of the Centre Management team.

Once the scores were in, The Never Alone Project (TNAP) was announced as this year’s charity partner. The local charity is dedicated to supporting individuals, families, and communities through their grief journeys by providing compassionate support, safe spaces, and practical tools.

The Never Alone Project was founded by Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist and Edu Grief Therapist, Ilze Lee, in 2021, and was born from personal experiences of profound loss. Ilze lost her father and brother just nine days apart, and as her family navigated this grief, her children’s father also passed away unexpectedly.

These successive tragedies exposed a significant gap in bereavement support within Northamptonshire. With the help of a small but mighty team, TNAP has since grown into Northamptonshire’s leading bereavement charity, and continues to expand with the help of trustees and ambassadors.

Ilze Lee, Founder of The Never Alone Project, said, “We are incredibly proud to have been selected as Rushden Lakes’ charity partner of the year. We know that this partnership will mean a bigger positive impact on our community.

We believe no one should have to walk through grief alone. Working together will help us reach even more families, raise vital funds, and bring our community together in powerful, healing ways. We’re so excited for what this year will bring, and deeply grateful for this opportunity to shine a light on grief support in Northamptonshire.”

Keep up to date with how this partnership is brought to life by following Rushden Lakes on their social channels. Follow on Facebook, @RushdenLakesSC, Instagram: @rushdenlakessc and X: @RushdenLakesSC.

Please visit The Never Alone Project’s website for more information on the service they provide, https://tnap.org.uk/.