On Friday 18th January 2019 at the Helping Hands Gateway Cafe in Smith Street Warwick , Kevin Sumner from Village Voices presented Lianne Kirkman CEO of Helping Hands Community Charity with a cheque for £1,300, from funds raised at our concert on 1st December 2018. This brought our total raised for them during 2018 to £2,650. This will help fund the amazing work done to turn around the lives of local people. As Paddy Kirkman said speaking at the concert about their work they aim to “provide a hand up not a hand out. ”
Funds raised at our concert on 24th March 2018 were presented to Helping Hands by choir members. The concert took place at Warwick (Northgate) Methodist Church, raised funds from sales of tickets and programmes, refreshments and general donations. Manager, Gary Matthews and Support Volunteer Callen from Helping Hands spoke at the concert about their work.
The money was presented to Charlotte Temple by Kevin Sumner on behalf of the choir. On receipt of the cheque for £1,350 Charlotte said that she was very grateful to the choir for choosing the Helping Hands Community Project to benefit from this year’s concerts. The monies will help fund on-going work in the local community.
About Helping Hands Community Project
The Helping Hands Community Project operates locally in Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth. The strap line is ‘Local People helping local people in need’ . They sum themselves up as: “We are hands on and we give hand outs…….but we also offer a hand up, enabling people to escape their current circumstances through guidance, support and referrals to other agencies. We encourage our service users to engage in voluntary work, whether that be with us, or with other local supporting businesses, charities or services, in the hope they can gain self-esteem, new skills, a job reference and a Curriculum Vitae!”
Helping Hands receive requests for essential items for local people in need eg carpets, curtains and furniture not provided when accommodation is made available. They request items on their Facebook page and the community generously responds by donating furniture, baby equipment, clothing, furniture to turn empty houses into homes.
They have taken on running the Leamington Soup Kitchen, feeding homeless people and providing sleeping bags, quilts, clothing, footwear and toiletries plus advice and support. They are supported by local companies who provide the food.
They have a charity shop in Leamington called The Lighthouse that also acts as a training shop for those training for NVQs in retail and customer service. They also provide further support and training in the drop-in space in the Lighthouse.
General enquiries helpinghandslwk@gmail.com
Donations helpinghandslwkdonation@gmail.com
A registered charity in March 2015 they are governed by a small number of local trustees, they receive additional support and guidance from their advisory group.