Our colleagues stepped in as volunteers over the course of a week by donning their tools to help with challenging refurbishment work which has seen areas of the toilet block at the former children’s centre transformed.
The Beacon provides a range of social activities that support the community as well as housing Exeter Foodbank and providing emergency food. They work closely with local schools and host local groups running children and youth sessions and a safe space for young people to socialise. The Midwifery team run outreach sessions there and this is a vital resource for expectant mothers in the locality.
Kate Galliford, Manager at the Beacon Centre, said: “This truly has been a wonderful collaboration with the community of Exeter and our housing association partner LiveWest. Thank you to all those that have worked so hard.’’
The work including improvements to the toilet blocks was a challenge due to needing skilled technicians from LiveWest to help.
Lesley Browne Community Connector at LiveWest, said: “The centre is really important to residents and local people allowing them to socialise improving their sense of wellbeing. Liam Frankum our Property Delivery Team Manager gave up his time with his team to turn around some tricky jobs such as improving the toilet blocks which required real technical ability.”
“LiveWest gives its colleagues up to four days paid volunteering a year. So, this was a great opportunity for some of them to get involved and provide extra support to the community.”
“We have supported the Beacon Centre for many years with grants to provide holiday activities and last year provided £500 to purchase a large freezer so meals could be stored and distributed to families in need.”
Isca Community Enterprises, the charity behind The Beacon lease the whole building to enable them to provide more activities to better serve the community, but also to be able to hire out space to generate some income to help them be financially stable.