The North East offices of Reed in Partnership have taken part in a variety of fundraising activities and collection drives to buy and subsequently donate clothes and essential items to support people facing homelessness.
Clothes bought and donated by Reed in Partnership’s Gateshead, North Tyneside, Ashington and Peterlee offices have been delivered to Oasis Community Housing’s Basis homeless drop-in centres in Gateshead and Sunderland.
Efforts to support from across the region
Part of The Reed Group, created with the purpose of ‘improving lives through work’, Reed in Partnership provide a variety of services for people to access support with employability, health, rehabilitation and more. As an organisation their mission is to positively transform people and their communities.
The company’s Gateshead office held a charity bake sale to raise funds to buy essentials like toothpaste, sanitary products, hats, gloves and men’s underwear. In Peterlee, the office bought new men’s underwear after fundraising efforts.
The North Tyneside and Ashington offices used their monthly ‘motivational money,’ to buy new clothes to donate. Reed in Partnership reward their teams with ‘motivational money’ to buy things like a special breakfast or an item for the team’s use, such as an air fryer or a coffee machine. North Tyneside and Ashington offices chose to donate their August ‘motivational money’ to Oasis Community Housing.
Anna Warner, Partnership Manager at Reed in Partnership, explained why they chose to support people facing homelessness in the region: ‘We support Participants on the Restart Scheme, to get back into employment and lead happy lives.
‘Homelessness is a complex issue that can arise from various factors such as a relationship breakdown, losing a job or a mental health condition. One small change in a person’s financial situation could result in them losing their home or being evicted. Supporting people who are homeless is the right thing to do.’
Hazel Ditchburn, Corporate Relationship Manager at Oasis Community Housing, explained the importance of relationships like these: ‘Motivated by a visit to our homelessness drop-in and mother and baby project Anna was really keen to see what she could do to help.’
‘She quickly set to work rallying colleagues across the North East Reed in Partnership branches to fundraise and pull together this wonderful collection. It was such a lovely surprise to see and hear about everything they have been doing over the last few months, and even better to see the reaction of our frontline teams when we handed over the donations of clothing, toiletries and shopping vouchers.
‘Massive thank you to Anna and the team for making such a huge difference to our work.’
Why clothes donations are important
Our Crisis service is an integral component in our holistic approach to tackling homelessness. A key area of this service are our Basis homeless drop-in centres in Gateshead and Sunderland.
People experiencing homelessness, especially those who are sleeping rough, often have limited access to clean clothes. Which means being able to provide the people who access our Basis drop-in service in Gateshead and Sunderland is an essential service we provide in our drop-ins.