Member Article

Refurbishing homes and helping the homeless

A chance encounter with a homeless person in Weaste has resulted in a project to help homeless people in Salford.

Building company Emanuel Whittaker is currently working to refurbish homes on the Weaste Steel estate in Salford on behalf of housing association Salix Homes as part of its £22m two year investment programme.

Resident Liaison Officer Garry Holt said: “While getting a sandwich for lunch I was asked for change from a homeless person. However, I didn’t have any, but while in store I bought myself and the homeless man a sandwich. But when I come out – he had gone.”

Garry started thinking about the homeless man and others like him – how would they manage at Christmas? He went online to see if he could find a homeless charity in Salford that Emanuel Whitaker could help at Christmas

“We found the Big Warm Up,” said Garry. “A project that suggests filling up shoeboxes with useful bits and pieces and then delivering them to local charities to distribute to the homeless - we all really liked the idea. It was not too expensive and it would provide really practical and useful items directly to people living on the street.”

The only problem was that the shoeboxes had to be delivered in a week. It was a case of all hands on deck and in just seven days Emanuel Whittaker site staff, head office staff and suppliers had raised enough cash to fill 15 shoeboxes with items such as sachets of soup and chocolate, toiletries and warm winter items like socks, gloves and hotties as well as treats like chocolate and biscuits.

“Emanuel Whittaker often get involved with community benefits at Christmas,” said Garry. “However, this is by far one of the most popular and successful we have done. Hopefully we can make Christmas a little bit merrier for people who don’t have much of anything.”

Mark Foster, head of investment at Salix Homes, added: “We are currently working alongside our contractor Emanuel Whittaker to refurbish 67 homes on the Weaste Steel estate, but while our customers can look forward to new and improved homes, it’s important we don’t forget about the people who are homeless this Christmas.

“The Big Warm Up is a fantastic charity which provides a lifeline for many homeless people in Salford and we are very proud of the efforts of all the Emanuel Whittaker employees who have pulled out all the stops to spread some festive cheer among the homeless this Christmas.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emanuel Whittaker .