UNSING heroes helping the homeless in Leamington have been recognised with a top police award.
Helping Hands Community Project has been awarded the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Community Award for Excellence.
Founded in 2015, the charity is dedicated to supporting those facing homelessness, poverty, and hardship.
It offers both practical and emotional support through a range of services, including a soup kitchen, breakfast club, support groups for men and women with vulnerabilities, as well as creative social enterprise projects.
A charity shop helps raise vital funds, while counselling services offer a safe space for those in need.
Helping Hands has also received funding the PCC to put on a walking football club and a woodworking group.
Jo Merrick, who began volunteering for the charity in 2019 and is now client services manager, said: “I think a lot of people come into this thinking homelessness is a simple problem – you’d think it’s obvious, give someone a home and that problem goes away.
“But what I quickly learned is that every person has deeply individual reasons for the situation they’re in.
“A lot of our clients have experienced profound trauma and they’re used to the sense of community on the streets.
“If you have them rehoused and they don’t have wraparound care, that community disappears from their life and they will really struggle.
“Making sure people are fed, clothed and showered is crucial, and we do that through our breakfast services and soup kitchens through the week.
“But people need hope and purpose too and, really, that’s what we’re trying to offer.
“We do that through one-to-one support, group sessions and signposting people to partner agencies who can also help.”
Jo continued: “We’ve had challenges, plenty of them. But we don’t measure our success on a spreadsheet or in numbers, we measure it in stories.
“We hear a lot of sadness but you need the positive stories. That’s what drives us and keeps us going.”
The award was presented to the charity at Warwickshire Police’s Excellence Awards last month.
Philip Seccombe, Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire, added: “Congratulations to Helping Hands for their deserved win of the PCC Community Award. Their small team and dedicated staff and volunteers are making a real difference to the lives of those facing homelessness, poverty and hardship across Warwick and Leamington.
“Those who nominated the team reflected on the kindness and safe space the team offer. They often go unseen and unsung, so it is a privilege to be able to recognise them in this way and their contribution to our communities.”
