Sheffield’s Lord Mayor Gail Smith opened her charity shop at Crystal Peaks shopping centre with an official ribbon cutting – and unLTD was first in the queue.
When taking up the post of Lord Mayor, she selected three charities to support. This year’s charities are Friends of Hi5 Disability Youth Group, Sheffield Hospitals Charity, and The Salvation Army.
The shop – which is located at Crystal Peaks in Unit K, East Mall – will sell items to raise money for all three charities.
The Lord Mayor Gail Smith said: “All three of these charities are extremely important to me for a variety of reasons. I started Friends of Hi5 Disability Youth Group to help young people with disabilities and I’m hoping this shop can provide them with the opportunity to get some work experience.
“My mother always told me ‘If you never support any other charity, give to the Salvation Army, they saved your grandad in the First World War’ so the charity was an obvious choice for me.
“My third charity, Sheffield Hospitals Charity, was selected because, as someone who has worked in the NHS and as someone who has been a patient, I have a lot to thank them for.
Young people from the Friends of Hi5 Disability Youth Group hosted the launch event, greeted customers, and handed out drinks and goodie bags.
Members of the group will also be working in the shop and unLTD’s features writer Jill Theobald was the first customer to be served at the till by one of their young volunteers – described by the Lord Mayor as a “fantastic training opportunity”.