Member Article

Barratt Developments Yorkshire East announces SASH as its charity of the year

Local housebuilder, Barratt Developments Yorkshire East, which includes the Barratt and David Wilson Homes brands, has announced youth homeless charity, Safe and Sound Homes (SASH), as its charity of the year for 2020.

SASH provides support to young people aged 16-25 facing homelessness in York, North and East Yorkshire through its emergency Nightstop scheme, helping young people during a time of crisis. The charity also offers a longer-term supported lodgings scheme for individuals who are unable to live independently. Both schemes rely on volunteer ‘hosts’ to offer a spare room in their own home.

Youth homelessness is a hidden problem and prevalent within our communities. The largest contributing factor to youth homelessness is family separation, alongside individuals leaving care facilities, or fleeing violence who have nowhere safe to go. Many 16-25-year-olds facing homelessness tend to sofa-surf, staying for a short period of time with family, friends and acquaintances, which dramatically impacts mental and physical well-being and can put education and employment prospects at risk. Last year, the charity helped over 320 young people avoid homelessness and arranged over 1,000 safe nights for emergency stays.

Barratt Developments Yorkshire East will be raising money throughout the year to support SASH, and has various fundraising activities already arranged including the annual Red Ball event - which raised a staggering £70,000 in 2019 for its charity of the year, UK Sepsis Trust.

Emma Bracegirdle, Community Fundraisers at SASH, commented: “We’re extremely grateful that Barratt Developments Yorkshire East has chosen SASH as it’s charity of the year. We are always thankful for the generous support and fundraising from local businesses and individuals, it’s because of this that we can make a difference to so many young people’s lives.”

Daniel Smith, Managing Director of Barratt Developments Yorkshire East, said: “The volunteers at SASH impact young people’s lives in such a positive way and we are very proud to support them this year. We are looking forward to all of the fundraising activities planned, including our annual Red Ball event. We hope these funds will go a long way in supporting the amazing work that they do across our region”.

In 2019, Barratt Developments Yorkshire East donated over £85,000 to worthy causes throughout the region, to support the UK Sepsis Trust in addition to twelve charities nominated to benefit from it’s monthly Community Fund scheme, which sees the housebuilder support a different local charity each month.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Savage .