Homelessness London Jan 2014

Balfour Beatty Volunteers Take on Garden Challenge for Homelessness Charity

A team of 12 twelve from Balfour Beatty’s London Infrastructure division rose to a sizeable challenge when they took on the garden at London City Mission’s Hope Community Homes.

The need

Located in Brixton, Hope Community Homes offers accommodation to former rough sleepers who have been identified through the work of London City Mission’s Webber Street homeless day centre in Waterloo.

The garden of the building required a significant amount of work, which encouraged the charity to reach out for support from CRASH.

The solution

CRASH called upon patrons to get to work on tackling the project.

How patrons helped

Lead by Operational Standards Manager Jo Raeburn , the team of volunteers cleared piles of debris and weeds, constructed new raised beds, painted the picket fence, stained the boundary fence and laid paving slabs.

They were supported by Dulux Trade and Travis Perkins with donations of paint, wood stain, fence posts and paving slabs.

The social impact

Housing is an important aspect of a person’s journey away from living on the streets as it offers warmth and security. However, many homeless people have been given housing only to end up on the streets again due to persistent struggles with emotional problems or an inability to handle the responsibilities that come with having a home.

The central part of Hope Community Homes is the outreach workers who provide practical and emotional support to the tenants in order that they can address some of the root causes of their instability and unhappiness.

“Well done to the team who, despite the wet winter day, pulled together and got a tremendous about of work done. It is a worthy cause and a number of the team are eager to get back in spring to help with planting.”

Jo Raeburn

Operational Standards Manager at Balfour Beatty

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