On Wednesday 21st October Leeds Rhinos Foundation celebrated their tenth anniversary at a spectacular black tie event at Leeds Town Hall.
Over the last decade the charity, which was founded in 2005 with the vision to ‘Change lives through Sport’, has grown into an award winning foundation that now works with an estimated 50,000 people a year under its five focus pillars of Education, Health, Sport, Art and Heritage.
Using sport as its main vehicle Leeds Rhinos Foundation aims to help individuals in the community, with the belief that sport has the unique power to enrich lives in a whole range of ways, inspiring qualities from confidence, to discipline to team-spirit.
Speaking about the charity’s milestone, Neil Kaiper-Holmes, Chairman of Leeds Rhinos Foundation said: “Our charity has grown from modest beginnings, initially with five staff and our Life President, David Oxley CBE, in the Chair, to become one of the leading sporting foundations in the country.
“Our mantra is ‘Changing lives through Sport’ and we now have over 30 staff and countless volunteers, including first team and academy players and their backroom advisers, who help us in our quest.
“The ten year anniversary is the perfect opportunity to thank all the staff, volunteers, players, sponsors, patrons, trustees, vice-presidents, directors, friends and supporters of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation and the club who have made it possible to achieve so much over the last 10 years.”
Working closely with the Leeds Rhinos team, who in parallel have enjoyed a golden decade of success, the charity has been able to inspire the many people it engages with and address a wide range of issues that exist in Leeds.
Bob Bowman, Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Director of Operations, added: “The Leeds Rhinos Foundation grew from the vision and aspiration of Leeds Rhinos Chief Executive, Gary Hetherington and Chairman, Paul Caddick, believing that this great game, club and stadium had more to offer the Leeds community than just the opportunity to come along and see the team play.
“The first ten years of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation has run parallel to the quite remarkable success of the Rhinos team. Players past, current and I am sure in the future, take their role in supporting the Leeds Rhinos Foundation very seriously. I believe there is not another group of professional sportsmen who can rival the genuine willingness and commitment of the Rhinos, the statistics over the years for appearances at community events alone are astonishing averaging 608 a year.”
In 2015 Leeds Rhinos Foundation were recognised as best overall contributor to Child Friendly Leeds for their commitment to helping improve the lives of young people across the city. The award was presented by Cllr Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council, who offered her best wishes to the charity on their anniversary.
"On behalf of Leeds City Council I would like to say congratulations to the Leeds Rhinos Foundation for reaching this milestone tenth anniversary. The Leeds Rhinos Foundation plays a fantastic role in our local community, helping to improve people's lives through sport and healthy living and especially in inspiring our young people to be the best they can be."
The celebration evening was hosted by Leeds Rhinos player and Leeds Rhinos Foundation trustee Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who has also stared in a new short film about the charity which was premiered on the evening.
The film, which has been produced by Brass Agency with the help of Mob Sport and directed by Jason Fisher-Jones, was shot at four different locations across Leeds to reflect the charity’s wide variety of work.
Commenting on the film, Dave Lambert, Creative Director at Brass Agency, said: “We are proud to support the Leeds Rhinos Foundation. We are continually inspired by the fantastic group of people and amazed at their commitment to make a difference through their life-changing programmes.
“The pride that each and every person connected with both the Rhinos and the Foundation has, inspired Brass to create a film with the help of The Mob, a video production company who has a lot of experience working with Rugby League clubs. The film brings to life the ethos of ‘Changing lives through Sport’ and highlights the unique power sport has to enrich lives in a whole range of ways-inspiring qualities from confidence, to discipline to team-spirit.”