Record sum for charity

A reception was hosted by the current Mayor, Councillor Margaret Tolerton, at Lagan Valley Island where Alderman Leathem presented the cheque and his very best wishes for the future to staff and board members of the charity.

Stepping Stones is a Lisburn-based charity and it provides skills building and confidence enhancement to people with learning difficulties/disabilities through its training programmes.

These are of an educational and practical nature, helping Stepping Stones trainees to make the best uses of their talents.

Alderman Leathem said: “I am absolutely overjoyed, this is a magnificent amount of money and I was completely overwhelmed when we actually totalled the amount to £107,105.76. I know this amount of money will be of a tremendous help in Stepping Stone’s future endeavours across the Lisburn community. I am so very thankful to all the people, organisations and local groups, who together, have made this staggering contribution to this local Lisburn charity possible and given it a legacy for the future.

“I was completely overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity shown to me in my quest to raise funds for Stepping Stones to develop its contribution across the Lisburn society.I wish Stepping Stones, the team and all its placement students the very best of luck and continuing success for the future,” he said.

Mrs Paula Jennings, Chief Officer at Stepping Stones said: “We are thrilled to bits and this unbelievable donation is beyond our wildest expectations. We are looking forward to working with Alderman Leathem to identify projects which can be put in place with this money. We would like to say a very big thank you to Alderman Leathem and everyone involved for their dedication and hard work and we hope to continue to see them for a sit down and a catch-up in one of our coffee shops, where he and Kathleen will always be welcome.”