Member Article

Local housebuilder raises over £14,000 in support of youth homeless charity, SASH

Barratt Developments Yorkshire East, has supported its Charity of the Year, youth homeless charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) by taking part in the Lap of Yorkshire Challenge - raising over £14,000, including Gift Aid. The total raised includes an additional £3,000 in match funding from Barratt Developments, the match funding initiative allows local divisions to apply for up to an additional £15,000 in funding for its Charity of the Year to support individual and team fundraising activities.

SASH operates across York, North and East Yorkshire, helping young people aged 16-25 who are facing homelessness. Last year, the local charity helped over 300 young people to avoid homelessness, and arranged over 1,000 safe nights for emergency stays. SASH also has a Nightstop project which offers immediate help during a time of crisis, supporting individuals to find permanent accommodation. SASH’s Supported Lodgings scheme allows time to work with a young person for longer and provide more intensive support.

Staff at Barratt Developments Yorkshire East took part in the Lap of Yorkshire Challenge during the month of July, with 13 teams across various departments participating. Each team, with up to five members of staff, aimed to run, walk or cycle 450 miles before the end of the month to complete the rewarding challenge. Cumulatively, the Barratt Yorkshire East teams raised over £11,700 and completed over 8,889 miles throughout July - totalling over 19 laps of Yorkshire.

Barratt Developments Yorkshire East’s Managing Director, Daniel Smith, took part in the virtual lap of Yorkshire amongst other team members to show his support and represent the business. Daniel commented: “Due to lockdown and social distancing restrictions, we have been unable to support this year’s chosen charity, SASH, in the same way we would have liked to due to a number of events being cancelled. Because of this, the charity committee was keen to take part in the Lap of Yorkshire Challenge to raise vital funds for SASH.”

“The lap of Yorkshire brought us together virtually whilst also raising much-needed funds to help support and prevent youth homelessness across the region, which is an issue we are dedicated to.”

Emma Bracegirdle, Community Fundraiser at SASH stated, “We are so grateful to have been selected as Barratt Development Yorkshire East’s charity for the year. During lockdown, we’ve had to cancel a number of fundraising activities so it’s great to be able to raise much-needed awareness and funds to assist us in our mission to tackle youth homelessness in different ways. It’s great to see the team at Barratt Developments Yorkshire East getting involved, and I hope that it will encourage others to do the same!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Savage .