Help – and hope – for the homeless
22 May 2015
Division of Communications and Marketing pitch in at Lifeshare
The Division of Communication and Marketing spent this year’s Give and Gain Day working at Lifeshare, a voluntary organisation that helps to meet the needs of homeless and vulnerable people in Manchester and Salford.
The charity offers people on the streets practical assistance, support and information, then continues its assistance to enable them to secure suitable accommodation, maintain their tenancies and access initiatives that carry their lives forward.
It provides breakfast at the weekends, as well as medical care, and also operates an ‘open house’ for six days over the Christmas period.
The Division team sorted out donated clothes and painted the staircase and dining hall at the former Ragged School premises on Dantzic Street.
They also donated to Lifeshare’s food stores – the charity gives food parcels to the homeless, requiring tinned goods with ring pulls so that they can eat on the streets or dried pot foods that can be turned into a meal with boiled water. This shocking indictment of life in twenty-first century Britain gave the team a picture of how tough life is for the people they were helping.
But it was uplifting as well as poignant, building team spirit and some pride by making a difference.
Internal Communications Manager Kate Cassidy said: “It has been great to see us transform the dining room into a clean and light space. Working with my colleagues on this has been really satisfying.”
Editorial coordinator Susannah Crossland agreed: "It was really good to find out about the great work the charity does and, as I am fairly new, get to know my colleagues with some manual labour."
And Designer Steve McCabe added: “There must be more we can do for this charity, other than painting – we could use our skills as communicators to raise awareness, and from that, funding for the charity.”
To find out more about the charity, or make a donation, visit: