Crown lends a hand to support local charity
We’ve lent our support to a local homeless charity with a generous donation of paint and equipment as well as time towards the charity’s latest refurbishment phase.
The team of six volunteers from Crown joined a further six from Blackburn Round Table in giving up their time over the course of a weekend to help Blackburn-based charity, Nightsafe finish the refurbishment of its accommodation centre. The charity, which supports vulnerable young people aged between 16 and 24 who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness, offers emergency accommodation and supported housing, and operates a day centre where young people can drop in to relax, take a shower, do laundry, or speak to a counsellor or advisor one-to-one.
It’s the third time we’ve assisted Nightsafe – the last time was as part of the BBC’s DIY SOS programme for Children in Need in November last year. During that project the old St Silas Church in Blackburn was transformed into a dedicated accommodation centre, providing a safe space for young people to stay with a living area, common room, kitchen, and bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms.
For the latest project our team has helped to spruce up the upstairs of the centre, refreshing the corridors, communal spaces as well as six bedrooms with our volunteers working tirelessly alongside Nightsafe staff and other members of the community. As well as the volunteers’ time, we also donated paint brushes, rollers and trays from our Crown Decorating Centre in Blackburn, along with more than 50 litres of paint – enough to complete the whole project.
Jan Larkin, CEO of Nightsafe said, “We’re so grateful to Crown Paints for the continued support they’ve provided over the last few years. The centre looks fantastic now that most of the bedrooms and upstairs area have been painted. It’s now a bright and welcoming space for our young people – giving them somewhere they can feel safe and at home.
“As a charity this year has been particularly tough for us, with more pressure on our services but limited fundraising opportunities, so the fact that Crown has been able to provide the paint and manpower for this project made all the different to us – we quite literally wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”
John Vause, our store sales development and trainer, co-ordinated the team of Crown volunteers on this project and commented, “We’re very proud to work with and support charities like Nightsafe especially in our home town. I know that the team involved enjoyed being able to get stuck in and make a real tangible difference to the project and see the transformation for themselves too. Nightsafe does an amazing job for our local area and we look forward to working with the team again in the future.”
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