Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre (CHAC) has received £5,000 to fund a series of life skills workshops for men and women in Cheltenham who were previously homeless.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
CHAC has been assisting homeless and vulnerable people in Cheltenham for almost 30 years. The grant will help people who are currently living in hostels to build up their life skills, such as cooking, budgeting and managing their tenancy successfully. This will help to stop the cycle of homelessness, improve lives whilst building stronger communities for everyone.
Mary Apperly, Housing Advice Worker at CHAC said: “This grant will help to make a tremendous difference to the lives of some of the most disadvantaged members of our communities. Increasing skills, knowledge and confidence are all essential in helping people to make those all important steps towards independence, and these workshops will provide hands on, practical examples of what life can be like for people recently off the streets.”
Rachael Jones, Branch Manager at Santander’s Cheltenham branch said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations every year to good causes throughout the UK. Our branch is committed to playing a key part in the community and we are delighted to be supporting Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre, and hope the donation makes a real difference to local people.”
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Stephanie Harris at Santander Tel: 020 7756 4221
Mary Apperly at Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre Tel: 01242 226672
About Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre (CHAC)
Established in 1988, Cheltenham Housing Aid Centre is a small independent charity, that provides free advice and information to help vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our community resolve housing issues and thereby improve their quality of life.
Currently, we provide specialist housing advice to clients who have drug and alcohol issues who are homeless or at risk of losing their home. Additionally we manage a bond scheme to help clients moving on to private tenancies. We also provide specialist money advice to the over 50's. For more information please visit: www.chac.org.uk
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £25 million in funding to 12,600 UK charities and in 2016 a further £5 million will be available through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. As at 30 June 2016, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c. 20,000 employees and operates through 847 branches (which includes 58 university branches) and 69 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.