Description

A Hawick-based charity have received support in painting a new shed for their food distribution programme thanks to Bell – the UK’s largest commercial painting and decorating contractor.

Established in 2006, Burnfoot Community Futures work within the Scottish Borders town of Hawick on a range of community engagement projects. They oversee the Burnfoot Community Hub – a community-owned and run centre which includes a Café, Soft Play, Crazy Golf, Community Garden and function/meeting rooms whilst being a focal point of their community outreach activities.

They charity have recently built a shed that will be the focus of their work distributing food and essentials to local individuals and families in the area, some of whom may be at risk of food poverty. The project also diverts a large amount of food and essentials that may otherwise go to landfills, in partnership with Foodshare through local supermarkets and Cyrenians, who oversee the network of Fareshare provision in Edinburgh & South East Scotland.

Following the shed’s installation, the group submitted a request to ESES Communities for a business to help them with weatherproof coating the shed with a varnish. The request was picked up by Bell UK. Bell are a family-owned business which value community engagement and supporting good causes. The firm were able to offer free paint, with Community Engagement Coordinator Jamie Hughes joining brush in hand to assist volunteers with painting.

Jamie said: “It’s been a pleasure to meet the fantastic team here at Burnfoot Community Futures. The charity and the Hub are obviously a real force for good. Knowing that we can contribute just a bit of paint and time to make a difference to their new community food project is great for Bell Group”.

Zoe Hall, Chair of Burnfoot Community Futures, said: “Charities like ourselves rely so heavily on the work of our staff and volunteers with everything from fundraising, running our café and all the various other things that we do to help local people and families. It’s really fantastic that a company like Bell has taken the time and provided the resource to come to our Hub to paint the shed – which will be so essential to how we support the local community.”

Bell hold a number of public and private contracts across Edinburgh & South East Scotland, including with Scottish Borders Housing Association (SBHA) whose sites include properties in Hawick. SBHA are also a not-for-profit charity who provide over 5,600 homes for affordable rent – with income being reinvested in new developments and the additional support they offer to improving the lives of their tenants.

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