Brackmills staff, businesses and customers have made a Christmas wish – to provide parcels of food and other essentials to Northampton homeless charity The Hope Centre.
Brackmills Industrial Estate Business Improvement District (BID), which represents and champions the views and priorities of our 180 plus businesses, is spearheading this campaign – encouraging and supporting resident businesses to collect and donate goodies in time for this Christmas.
BID CEO Sara Homer, also a proud trustee at the Hope Centre, explained: "We have specially designed cardboard donation boxes which the BID team are dropping off to businesses across Brackmills. Employees can then pack their company’s box with goodies for Christmas – food, toiletries, gifts and other essentials.
“Our team – or a representative from The Hope Centre - will then collect these boxes so the contents can be distributed to families in need in time for Christmas Day.”
The Hope Centre is a community charity which relies on the generosity of its community to continue the work it does.
Community and Events fundraiser for the Hope Centre, Tanya Haji-Miller, added: “Thank you to Brackmills, who have always shown us such incredible support.
“We are seeing unprecedented numbers of people facing homelessness with rising rents forcing evictions and the cost-of-living causing debts to spiral. A year ago a ‘busy’ day at our homeless centre saw 33 people visiting us. We now see over 60, with up to five new people registering for our support and service every day.
“We also know there are over 100 people rough sleeping on the streets in Northampton at the moment and we are preparing to do all we can to prevent deaths as the winter months approach.”
Here’s how Brackmills businesses can help:
Request and fill a box – with in-date tinned and dried goods, toiletries and personal hygiene items.
Request a box is delivered to your business by contacting Sara. Email [email protected] or call Sara on 07891016896 .
When your box is full contact Sara, who will arrange for the box to get to the Hope Centre and to a family in time for Christmas.
The Hope Centre's work helps people experiencing the most acute problems of disadvantage and marginalisation, including homelessness, addiction and mental health.
As well as giving practical support, it focuses on helping people to help themselves, provide support and services that will enable individuals to take back control of their own lives, and campaign with them against the causes of their disadvantage.