Warwickshire County Council Portfolio Holder for the economy, Martin Watson has praised the generous spirit of the business community...
...in the county which has supported a charity whose essential work helps protect homeless people.
The Helping Hands charity is all about local people helping local people in need. They give people the support and opportunities to feel better about themselves, be more active in the community and get back into work.
They deliver the basics through their soup kitchen and like to give a hand up not just a hand out through new skills, experience and qualifications. Their strapline is “We exist because everyone matters”.
Helping Hands chief executive Lianne Kirkman talks about how local businesses continue to step up and help the charity go from strength to strength. She said “It is amazing and quite humbling to see, even in the current very tough economic climate, businesses doing all they can to help us help people who desperately need support. And more and more in the last year we are also saying to businesses, 'how can we help you?'”
Sometimes a business will say, 'we've got £1,000 - what are you going to do with it?' So they might do a Warehouse Takeover whereby we have a list of families we are helping, maybe a single parent with one child or a family of four, and we create a business bathroom and bedroom pack. We get together some basics - a microwave, new bedsheets - and put them in one of our community boxes which will have the sponsor's name on it so when the people open it in their new home it says this is a gift from whoever.
Councillor Martin Watson had this to say “It is very encouraging to see the community spirit we saw in abundance during the pandemic, continue on. Many businesses are seeing the benefits of helping smaller organisations and charities, and are stepping up to help those who need it most”
“Here at Warwickshire County Council, we are doing our best to guide people through this cost-of-living crisis and it is fantastic to see so many others doing what they can to make life a little easier for the most vulnerable in our society”
In its own response to the crisis, Warwickshire County Council has agreed a package of measures to relieve the financial burden on residents who may be struggling with rising living costs. These measures are in addition to the support already available. More information can be found on the Warwickshire Cost of Living pages.