Cornish project Starting Out has been awarded £50,000 to help Cornwall’s homeless, following a public phone vote.
The project will be run by a partnership of three established Cornish reuse centres and will provide furniture starter packs to help homeless people move into accommodation.
Uniquely the project will also encourage the recipient to take part in supported volunteering, with the possibility of taking part in accredited training and receiving employment support, a solution that should see the project becoming a mainstream sustainable service.
With 1500 annual cases of homelessness in Cornwall and approximately 500 families currently in temporary housing in Cornwall, the project will address a critical need on a county wide basis.
Alan Lethbridge, Operations Manager at RE:SOURCE said: “We would like to thank everyone who voted for Starting Out and ensured that this vital project received funding. The project attracted huge support across the county of Cornwall and also nationally from environmental organisations and homeless charities.”
Alan went on to say: “The Big Lottery, People’s Millions award is unique in that it allows the public to decide which projects get supported and for the Starting Out Partnership it is very reassuring to know that we have widespread public support.”
Starting Out will help people like Maria Turner who was made homeless at the age of 18 following a domestic dispute. Maria spent some time sleeping rough and at friends’ houses before being housed in unfurnished accommodation. When questioned about moving into unfurnished accommodation Maria commented:
“Of course you feel relieved and grateful just to have a roof over your head, but not being able to cook and sleeping on the floor in a completely empty room soon becomes depressing and makes friends’ sofas look inviting again.
Maria went on to say: “Not having furniture can affect your whole life. Your health deteriorates without decent food or sleep and this makes it hard to get a job or stick to training. Then if you start staying with friends too much you could lose the tenancy.”
When questioned on how she feels about the volunteering side of the project Maria stated: “I would be happy to volunteer my time to help an organisation that has helped me and recognise all the brilliant opportunities that volunteering at the reuse centres could open up for me. I already do some voluntary work but am thinking of getting involved at RE:SOURCE because I really like what they do.”
Anyone interested in further information on the Starting Out Project should contact Alan Lethbridge at RE:SOURCE on 0800 321 33 56.
