Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Positive help for the homeless


Still helping others
In what is becoming a regular Old Buckenham event, there was a gathering in the Church Rooms on Saturday 20 February to hand over the proceeds of the community’s collections for the homeless of Norfolk. Representatives from the St Martins Housing Trust were there to receive several cheques, in total well over £15,000, which would be used by St Martins to fund their work addressing the needs of homeless people in Norwich and Norfolk.It seems amazing that a village as small as Old Buckenham can mastermind the raising of so much money over the Christmas period. As well as the money, villagers also donated non-perishable foodstuff, warm winter clothing and toiletry materials that will all help improve life for those in the Trust’s hostels and houses.
This is one area where Old Buckenham residents deserve to be pleased with themselves. As Derek Player, General Manager of the St Martins Housing Trust, said in his opening remarks to those at the presentations “Good morning Old Buckenham, we love you”. Long may this special relationship continue. It has been a challenging period since mid-December for St Martins as they have struggled to bring everyone in from the cold. Derek Player added that they never have quite enough beds for everyone that might be sleeping rough in Norwich and they have had up to nine people sleeping on the floor of the dining room at their hostel in Norwich - and the winter is not over yet.

The details of the individual cheques passed over were:
Collection at Sainsburys, Thetford £2,988
Collection at Sainsburys, Attleborough £2,845
Collections by Old Buckenham 2000 Trust £1,052
Church collection - Christmas Eve £551.75
Collectors, presented by Old Buckenham WI £7,931
Donation £100
Total £15,467.75

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