The Kent Mark Benevolent Fund (KMBF) has launched a Match-Funding Scheme with its first donation, sponsored by St Peter-in-Thanet Mark Lodge No. 1053, going to Talk Club, a national men’s health charity with groups in here Kent.
Talk Club is a mental fitness community for men, meeting both in person and online. It is a talking and listening club offering talking groups, sports groups and therapy to help keep them mentally fit.
It’s a simple medicine that starts with asking – How are you, Out of 10?
Chair of KMBF Trustees, Perri Ahmet, commented “The application by St Peter-in-Thanet Mark Lodge is the first to the recently agreed Match-Funding Scheme. The KMBF Trustees have ring fenced £2,000 for year one and will allow each lodge once a year to nominate a charity to have a maximum £200 donation match-funded. The sponsoring lodge will have their donation counted towards their KMBF Patronage Scheme total as well, which is a double win.”
Les Yates, co-founder of “Talk Club” receiving the first donation from V.W.Bro. Fred Brown
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 49. In the UK, approximately three-quarters of all suicides are male. Talk Club was created after one of the Founders, Ben Akers, lost his childhood best friend, Steve Yates from Margate, to suicide in 2014. Struggling to process his grief, Ben set out to make ‘Steve’, a documentary about male mental health. Talk Club is a legacy of that project.
To find your nearest Talk Club please follow this link
For further information on how to apply for a grant from the KMBF please follow this link.
To make a donation to the KMBF please follow this link.