Our Community Services committee have recently donated £1,250 to local charity Porchlight to help refurbish one of its hostels.
Porchlight is a local charity that helps vulnerable and isolated people in Kent and the south east, often those with no-one else to turn to. The people that they help are given support in areas that they may be struggling with, including mental health, housing, employment and education. Last year they supported over 5000 people in the local area. In their 2016-2017 annual review they stated that '84% of the people [they] worked with were helped to move off the streets' and '90% of clients asked said they now aspire to achieve more academically'. Their clients 'were more than twice as likely to gain employment after engaging in [Porchlight's] award winning Workwise scheme. Porchlight's vision statement says: 'We strive for a fairer society where vulnerable people find stability, the most excluded are included, and where homelessness and poverty are things of the past.'
Our Club has helped Porchlight in the past. On this occasion the funds that we have donated will be used to refurbish, decorate and carpet the communal areas in one of the flats at one of Porchlight's hostels in Canterbury which is undergoing a major refurbishment.
To find out more about Porchlight, including how to volunteer or donate to them, click here.
