Household items donated to Lichfield homeless

Homeless residents are celebrating after a kind-hearted property maintenance business donated dozens of household items to a block of flats in Lichfield.

Bromford has been carrying out a £250,000 roof refurbishment project at Edgeworth House, in Oakenfield, to make the scheme more energy-efficient for residents. People are referred to the temporary accommodation by Lichfield District Council and ordinarily arrive with little to no possessions meaning Bromford relies on donations from the local community and partnerships with local businesses, charities and churches. The length of time that customers stay at Edgeworth House can vary from just a couple of weeks to a full 12 months.

Starting in April, engineers from Novus Property Solutions have been leading an initiative to pitch the roof and better insulate the medium-rise block of flats, which is home to 11 households at any one time.

With the project nearing completion and the scaffolding surrounding the flats soon to come down, Novus put a call out across their company for donations and were delighted with the generous response. Dozens of everyday household items have now been handed over to Bromford following the call for help, with residents already enjoying everything from kettles and toasters, to cutlery, dinner sets, duvets and blankets.

Proud

Adrian Elsby, Novus site manager, explained: “We take our social value responsibilities extremely seriously and we really felt we wanted to help people who are in difficult situations often through no fault of their own. I’m not quite sure we anticipated the level of response we got though and they have truly done us proud.”

Support worker Paul Bradley added: “Customers often come to us literally with just the clothes they are standing in so we are thrilled to bits with the level of generosity Novus have shown our customers and it will go a long way to ensuring residents flourish in this environment and go on to continue rebuilding their lives. Partnership working like this is so important and I know there has been a lot of excitement amongst residents.”

Over the years Bromford colleagues have held numerous fundraising initiatives to raise money for Edgeworth House and similar schemes through coffee mornings, fun runs, sponsored walks and fashion shows.

To find out how we're aiming to tackle homelessness take a look at Bromford's new strategy.