Dozens of adults with learning disabilities across Newcastle are getting the chance to try a range of new activities thanks to a new initiative from a city charity and a four-figure grant from the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation.
Cornerstone Benwell has set up its weekly Welcome Project where around 25 service users and their carers from across Newcastle are trying out everything from chocolate making and cookery through to making crafts and bath bombs.
The charity has used the £3,000 Newcastle Building Society grant to buy all the extra facilities, materials and ingredients required for the sessions, with bread and cheese tastings set to take place in the coming weeks.
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The funding is being provided through the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, which offers grants to charities and community groups located in or around the communities served by the Society’s branch network.
A Sunderland fitness firm has joined forces with a charity helping hundreds of women back into work to launch a new product. Amazing Jane activewear has seen huge growth following the launch of its TrackHer range of leggings, which contain a concealed pocket which can hold a GPS personal tracker and were launched in response to headlines around violence against women and their safety when out exercising.
Now the company has collaborated with Smart Works Newcastle to create a pair of leggings which will see part of the profits go to the charity that supports North East women into employment through interview clothing and coaching.
The specially commissioned leggings are named Kirsty, after the first person who accessed the services, and have been designed around the feedback of feelings of Smart Works Newcastle clients, with words emblazoned across the material. They are available for pre-order with 20% from all orders containing the Kirsty Wonder Leggings set to be donated to Smart Works Newcastle.
Helen Boyd, centre manager at Smart Works Newcastle said: “At Smart Works Newcastle we love to collaborate with like-minded organisations that share the same values of supporting and empowering women.With our Cycle for Smart Works challenge and IWD23 on the horizon we are grateful to the Amazing Janes team for creating such a great product which will raise vital funds for our service and mean we can support even more North East women into employment in 2023.”
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Time Central neighbours Muckle LLP, Mott Macdonald, Turner & Townsend and RBC Brewin Dolphin have joined forces to donate 30 bags of office wear to Smart Works Newcastle.
The teams based at the Gallowgate building collected clothing, shoes and accessories for redistribution by the service in a clothing drive organised by Rebecca Shadlock, technical director for environment and sustainability at Mott MacDonald. She said: “It’s a pleasure to support Smart Works Newcastle and the clothing drive was an easy initiative to organise.
“It made perfect sense to ask our neighbours in Time Central, and thankfully everyone was in full support. Smart Works’ ‘She Got The Job’ posts on LinkedIn make me smile every time and the purpose of the charity is heart-warming. Why shouldn’t every woman be enabled to attain a job and enjoy the associated benefits that come from employment? We look forward to continuing to support the charity and empowering women.”
Property developer Modo Bloc has announced a project to support and fund people experiencing homelessness across the region. The Newcastle developer has formed a partnership with Christian homelessness charity Oasis Community Housing to donate £2,000 towards housing and supporting a homeless person for every new house or two flats it sells this year.
Modo Bloc has already sold two properties ‘off plan’ at its luxury, seven design-led, four-storey townhouses development, The Ropes, at St Lawrence Road, overlooking the Ouseburn Valley and River Tyne, in Newcastle. A first donation has already been paid to the charity.
George Jenkins, MD of Modo Bloc, said: “As part of our wider plans to be a catalyst for regeneration we felt it was important to do something with people struggling in the communities in which we invest. It’s important to look to the people as well as living places when trying to build better communities and attractive destinations. Homelessness is a national blight.
"People end up on our streets, for a mix of reasons, and often only need a bit of kindness and a practical pull up to improve their situation. Oasis Community Housing has been doing this for years and was the perfect choice for us to work with. They’re doing some fantastic work tackling homelessness around Newcastle and beyond.”
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