Fresh Start for Edinburgh's homeless courtesy of charity's new look centre...
An Edinburgh based homeless charity's volunteer centre has been reopened by Lord Provost George Grubb.
The Lord Provost lent his hand to reopen the charity's warehouse centre where volunteers work to help the homeless rebuild their lives, providing vital Starter Packs and other services.
The charity is best known outside Scotland when it featured in an episode of Channel 4's the Secret Millionaire, shown on British television last year.
The episode followed multi-millionaire Ivan Massow who went undercover in Edinburgh's Pilton Estate. The programme showed the mix of support Fresh Start provides to its clients. Mr Massow later donated some of his own money to help the charity after visiting Fresh Start's warehouse and seeing how it operated first hand.
Support like that has helped Fresh Start's refurbishment of its warehouse, allowing the organisation to continue helping to resettle around 2,000 homeless households a year.
The charity that works in partnership with volunteers and organisations from across the community, delivers a range of practical, emotional and social support services and relies heavily on volunteers for the work it does…
The charity's newly refurbished warehouse means volunteers will be able to continue making up the charity's Starter Packs that help recently re-housed families and individuals make a fresh start in their new homes.
In 2011 the charity produced approximately 9,000 Starter Packs and volunteers contributed 2,800 hours to produce them. The Fresh Start warehouse is also the base for the homeless charity's Hit Squads that support people with decorating services and also Portable Appliance Testing services.
The two-month refurbishment, which involved upgrading electrics and insulation, means volunteers can work with better light and heating conditions...
Fresh Start has paid tribute to its volunteers, whose role is vital in helping homeless people make the new start they need. And the charity continues to welcome new volunteers who want to help to provide services, which in many cases can make all the difference in preventing at risk people from lapsing back into homelessness.
As such Fresh Start is typical of many small and medium sized charities that do sterling work, helping local homeless people rebuild their lives. These include charities that accept donations of unwanted goods, including furniture, which is also a commitment to recycling that can make a small but meaningful contribution to conserving the natural environment...
Read more Xperedon Charity News at: http://www.xperedon.com/charity_news
