Each year SambAfriq will be supporting a charity. For 2023, Chorley Help the Homeless is the chosen charity.
"A brief history of Chorley Help the Homeless
In 2020, Chorley Help The Homeless celebrated 25 years since it was founded in 1995, formed by an informal group of people from various local churches. One of the founders, Dorothy Griffiths helped lead and support the charity throughout this time, until very sadly she died last year. Our current building Dorothy House on Clifford St is named after her.
It became a registered charity in 1997 and began its existence at the Tatton Community Centre with shared office and storage space in a small house on Steely Lane. It began to develop and was able to employ a project manager and a qualified tenant support worker alongside the volunteers. Not long after, the Council helped the charity by providing its current premises on Clifford St at a ‘peppercorn rent’. There followed a long period of success working with national charities like Shelter and Crisis and was able to operate a rent bond scheme.
From that time there has been an unbroken period until the present day of providing practical help and advice to those experiencing or threatened by homelessness (in the widest sense). This practical help has focussed on the provision of food, clothing and household items. The advice has focussed on getting support for those made homeless or at risk of becoming homeless backed up with providing counselling, where needed.
The charity has helped many thousands of individuals and families who have benefited from the unstinting work of our fantastic volunteers and advisers supported by a very small but highly committed staffing base and over the years the many people who have given their time as Trustees.
Our work is as important today as it was 25 years ago. So much so that we need larger premises to give even greater help to those who look to us for support but also to provide space to other groups in the community that want to work with us to help make lives better.
You can find more info about the history of our charity here: Chorley Help the Homeless "
