Each year, our Anniversary Foundation, established in 2018, chooses a charity partner to support throughout the course of the year. Our team then get to work fundraising for our chosen organisation. As announced earlier this year, Luton-based NOAH will benefit this year – chosen with the given effects of the cost-of-living crisis in mind.
Homelessness and extreme poverty can happen to anyone, at any time. NOAH is a lifeline for many suffering in poverty across Luton and Central Bedfordshire. The funds we raise will therefore go towards helping the most in need, through welfare centres, street outreach programmes, and vital employability training.
Here’s more information about NOAH, and how we’ll be supporting the charity across the course of the year.
A year of action
This year, profile raising is key for the NOAH team. Having been around for 30 years, they’re well known in the local area, but it’s time to raise awareness further afield. Shannon Murphy, Community Fundraiser at NOAH said:
“We need to tell more people about what we do. We used to have a furniture shop in Luton, and that’s what a large number of people associated us with. But we do so much beyond that – our Welfare Centres are vital to so many in the community, and the training we’re providing is making a real difference in securing people’s work. The more awareness we can raise, the more donations of food, clothing, and funds we’ll receive.
The cost-of-living crisis has caused a substantial uptake in our services, almost doubling in fact. And we know from reports in the mainstream media that the worst of it is yet to come. People might still have small savings pots that they can use, but once these are gone – we’ll see the true effects.”
The NOAH Academy
The NOAH Welfare Centre provides fresh hot meals, showers and laundry services, clothing provisions, GP services, and links to specialist agencies like housing and addiction services for those who need it, including rough sleepers.
But whilst the work of the Welfare Centre is well known, the Academy is perhaps less so. The Academy provides courses and employability training, such as English as a second language, CV writing, confidence building, and one-to-one career coaching. The Academy also has spaces where people can come to take part in online interviews and even provides professional attire for those attending an interview.
Our fundraising efforts
NOAH’s biggest community event, the Big Sleepout, is taking place this year on Friday 6th October, and one we want to throw our support behind. As well as co-sponsoring the event we are encouraging the Foxley Kingham and GKP team to sign up and take part. By swapping their warm bed for a sleeping bag under the stars, we hope we will raise much-needed sponsorship and gain a small insight into some of the harsh realities of sleeping rough. Please do consider sponsoring your FK and GKP team on Total Giving.
To give an example of what these funds will go towards, last year NOAH achieved the following, using vital, donated funds, time, and goods:
- 466 people were supported on the streets of Bedfordshire by NOAH Outreach Teams.
- The NOAH Welfare Centre was visited 26,844 times, an average of 73 people per day. An increase of over 60% from the previous year.
- The NOAH team provided:
- 7617 lunches,
- 675 showers,
- 616 emergency accommodation stays,
- 512 items of clothing,
- 125 free mobile phones.
- Nearly 300 people were supported into stable accommodation through NOAH services.
- And over 200 people were supported and aided with their mental health.
Get involved
If you want to get involved with supporting NOAH, the charity is regularly looking for volunteers to support fundraising activity, or you can keep your eyes peeled on the charity’s social channels where they regularly put calls out for donations. Visit noahenterprise.org for more information. More information on the BIG NOAH Sleepout, including how to take part and how to fundraise, can be found here.
If you’d like to make a donation to help egg on all of our accountants as we rise to the challenge – you can do so here.
You can contact the team at Foxley Kingham for more information here.
