£1,000 donation to help people in Southampton who have been homeless
published on 12 Oct 2018
COMMUNITY-spirited staff at a Southampton recruitment company have made a generous donation to help support people in their community who have experienced homelessness.
The Highfield Company has handed over a £1,000 cheque to The Salvation Army’s Booth Centre Lifehouse which is on Oxford Street to help pay for new gym equipment.
Tom Archer from the Highfield Company said:
“At the Highfield Company we care about our community and we are glad to be able to support The Salvation Army and the work it does to help people who have experienced homelessness in Southampton. I am overjoyed to be able to donate to a charity which did a great deal for one of my close friends a few years ago. I also have another friend that works there and sees the day-to-day lives of some of the people in the programme.
“During our visit to the Booth Centre Lifehouse we met some of the centre’s residents, heard about the excellent work done by The Salvation Army to help them to rebuild their lives and had a tour of the centre’s facilities.
“We’re glad to be in a position to help support the life-changing work that is done at the Booth Centre and knowing that our donation will be used to buy gym equipment to help improve the health and wellbeing of its residents is very rewarding.”
The Booth Centre Lifehouse has 43 rooms and is located at 57 Oxford Street.
From there, it provides support and accommodation for men and women who have experienced homelessness in Southampton to help them rebuild their lives.
It runs a café and a furniture business that teaches residents carpentry and upholstery skills.
Profits are reinvested in the businesses and the café runs a delivery service while the furniture workshop also accepts one-off commissions.
Booth Centre Lifehouse residents can also study for qualifications to help improve their employment prospects.
Matthew Smith, Service Manager at the Booth Centre Lifehouse said:
“It was a pleasure to welcome Tom from the Highfield Company to the Booth Centre Lifehouse and introduce him to our residents, staff and the work that we do here to support people from the Southampton area who have experienced homelessness.
“We’re also very grateful to the Highfield Company for this generous donation which we will put to good use by upgrading our gym equipment to help our residents to improve their physical and mental fitness and overall wellbeing.”