North West charity Alternative Futures Group (AFG), whose head office is in Prescot on Merseyside, is celebrating after being crowned Charity of the Year at this year’s Charity Times Awards.
AFG, which supports more than 1100 people every year with learning disabilities and mental health needs, beat off competition from Citizens Advice, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Stroke Association and United Response in the charity with an income of more than £30 million category.
The judges were impressed with how AFG had consistently been able to grow without compromising the quality of the service it delivers.
The charity provides around the clock support within the community, in peoples own homes or in one of eight treatment and recovery centres across Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.
Chris Hannah, chair of Alternative Futures Group was in London to collect the award and said:
“We’re delighted to be recognised for developing person centred approaches which support people to live the lives they want.
“It’s a tribute to the hard work of the 2500 staff who work for us and who do such a tremendous job.”
Neil Campbell, chief executive of Alternative Futures Group:
“This is a fantastic organisation with a committed and caring workforce who are dedicated to their jobs and the people they support.
“We’ve really led the way this year with so many unique initiatives including a two year partnership programme with Gambian charity Mobee.
“Support workers have travelled to Africa where they’ve been able to develop new skills and techniques and apply them in practice here, as well as get involved with other initiatives and projects.
“We also held a special conference to help shape future policy where Andy Burnham MP, the shadow secretary for health, was our keynote speaker and expressed his desire to see a whole person approach to social care. It provided a suitable climax to mark 21 years since AFG was set up with founding values of putting people at the heart of everything we do.
“Those values remain and will continue to be our focus in the years ahead.”
More information can be found by visiting http://alternativefuturesgroup.org.uk or by visiting our Facebook page, ‘AFG Support’. You can also follow us on Twitter @AFGSupport