Volunteers Bring HOPE to Nottingham’s Homeless

A team of volunteers from British Gypsum turned their hand to painting to help with the refurbishment of a local homelessness project.

The need

Using donations of materials from fellow CRASH Patrons Buildbase and Dulux Trade, the volunteers decorated the first and second floors of new move-on accommodation for Nottinghamshire charity HOPE Community Services.

The solution

Based in Worksop, HOPE offers former homeless people somewhere to live to help them rebuild their lives. When complete, the new premises on Queen Street will have six bedrooms providing much needed move-on accommodation for those who are ready to take the next step back to independence.

How patrons helped

Buildbase and Dulux Trade donated the necessary materials for volunteers to lend a hand.

The social impact

Homelessness has doubled in the last three years, and local services are under pressure with austerity biting hard. Without the support of organisations like CRASH, British Gypsum, Buildbase and Dulux Trade and their willingness to help charities like HOPE, more people in crisis would have nowhere to go.

Alan Diggles

CEO of HOPE

A bedroom, renovated and painted by CRASH’s patron volunteers

CRASH has been supporting HOPE for a number of years. They provide a vital service in Worksop and have helped many individuals off the streets and supported them in their journey to re-establish themselves within the community.

One person is Ian who came to HOPE because he had been sleeping on the streets after his marriage broke down. He could not stay with his family as they had no room so had nowhere else to turn.

Ian stayed at HOPE’s Hostel for several months where he made new friendships and his self-confidence improved greatly. During his time in the Hostel, he developed his independent living skills through volunteering and helped with cooking, cleaning and gardening, and even painting areas of the building.

This not only helped Ian make meaningful use of his time, but also to focus on positives – what he could do rather than what he could not.

Eventually, Ian moved on into low support accommodation and now feels much more settled. He has successfully maintained this tenancy for a number of months and, is currently in the process of becoming a volunteer with HOPE, to “give something back”.

Without the support of HOPE, Ian believes that he would not have felt confident enough to move on into his own home and he doubts he would have maintained that tenancy.

He said; “If it wasn’t for Hope I would probably still be on the streets. The staff are really approachable and I felt like I could put my trust in them to support me through a really tough time in my life.”