Armchair donations

Tue, Jul 4th 2006, 11:00

Show home furniture has been given a new lease of life with Potteries Housing Association, an organisation which provides special needs housing support for people who have been homeless or have lived experience of mental illness.

Redrow has opened the doors to one of its show homes at Doulton Grange in Baddeley Green, Stoke, and invited the charity to take the sofas, beds, tables, chairs plus accessories and put them to good use.

The Potteries Housing Association (PHA) provides community based housing and support in North Staffordshire, including furnished tenancies where people can live in the community with support.

It also operates a ‘safe house’, where people who are in crisis or distress can stay in a safe environment with the support they need.

Chris Herbert, PHA development manager, says: “We are currently in the process of redeveloping a property in the north of the city as a second safe house and the household furniture that Redrow has donated will be used to finish it off. It is all really good quality stuff that’s hardly been used and we are very grateful to Redrow for thinking of us.

“Our current safe house supports between 200 and 250 people each year. A surprising number of people are in crisis or in acute distress in their home environment and need a space where they can be safe while getting away from their problems.”

Lynne Gardener, field sales manager for Redrow Homes (West Midlands), says: “We’re absolutely delighted that Potteries Housing Association has been able to put the show home furniture to such good use.”

Donations such as this have helped Redrow to retain the Business in the Community (BITC) PerCent Standard for three successive years. This voluntary benchmark measures the contributions made by companies through cash donations, staff and management time plus gifts in kind. Only companies that invest at least one percent of their pre-tax profits in the community are eligible to join the PerCent Club.

Redrow has also just launched the Redrow Foundation, a charitable trust which is particularly aimed at providing accommodation and related assistance - including respite care - for children in need, the elderly, the sick or infirm. Redrow has donated an initial sum of £100,000, and will give £50 from every legal completion secured, equating to a total annual contribution of circa £250,000.

Charities that meet the criteria and wish to apply for funds from the Redrow Foundation should email: foundation@redrow.co.uk