Access Community Trust•Articles by: Access Community Trust

Author: Access Community Trust

Power station beds to help Suffolk’s most vulnerable this winter

Suffolk based charity, Access Community Trust (ACT), has welcomed the donation of 100 beds, sleeping bags and pillows from Sizewell B power station.

The bedding will be used by ACT and other charities for the homeless that they work alongside.

Niki Rousseau, Sizewell B Community Liaison, explains the background to the donation: “We bought the bedding as part of our business continuity plans in response to the pandemic.  Fortunately, we never had to use them, and our employees did not have to remain on-site for long periods of time.   We did not want the new stock to go to waste and through the partnership that Sizewell C has with Access Community Trust we knew we had found an important place for them.”

Emma Ratzer MBE, CEO of Access Community said, “This Winter is set to be extremely tough for some of the most vulnerable and hard to reach rough sleepers across Suffolk and Norfolk. This donation allows our charity to proactively assist other localised organisations by providing essential bedding for those in greatest need within our communities.”

Access Community Trust and Sizewell C have been working in partnership for 2 years to open up access to opportunities with the project to build Suffolk’s first new nuclear power station in over 25 years.

–             Access Community Trust is a regional charity that champions a host of direct support for those that are socially excluded or vulnerable within our communities.

–             The charity focuses across four key themes (supported accommodation, mental health and wellbeing, community social enterprises and education) to actively assist individuals in

realising their full potential within society.

–             This year the charity has also bolstered its community wellbeing offering by opening a number of high street mental health trauma cafes for those in need of support and provided toolbox mental health training for a number of local businesses.

–             Accredited as the 2nd best charitable employer in the UK by Best Companies, it also received a special commendation award in 2021 for its own employee wellbeing programme.

–             The non-profit operates across Suffolk and Norfolk from over 30 premises, has a team of over 165 staff and has positively supported tens of thousands of individuals and families this year alone.

Trust’s dedication to employees awarded with ‘World Class’ Best Employer Status

Despite the many challenges Covid-19 has presented to their widespread support network, the last twelve months have seen a tremendous increase in demand for the services provided by regional charity Access Community Trust, including mental health and wellbeing care, supported housing and its expanding essential food provision service PINK Orange.

With lockdown restrictions slowly beginning to ease, the Trust is now looking to the future, after receiving a world-renowned employer award. The prestigious ‘World Class – Triple Star’ accolade for workplace engagement was provided by Best Companies.

Over the last year, the charity has increased its workforce to a team of over 160 individuals that continue to deliver services to those most vulnerable in our communities.

Judged against an all-encompassing 8-factor model, the triple star achievement marks the highest possible standard of workplace engagement, representing organisations that truly excel. With this award, the Lowestoft born charity has achieved a higher rating than many multinational giants and stands out as a Top100 organisation to work for in the UK including a Top30 charity.

Emma Ratzer MBE, CEO of Access Community Trust explains what this award means to the charity and it’s team going forward,

“This recognition is remarkable. Our team has been challenged continually over the past year, taking pride in their work, while adapting to the many obstacles thrown their way. It is a testament to how brilliant they all are. I think it is important to see that we are not just excelling in the support services we offer to our clients, but we are championing our internal company culture, support and engagement amongst our valued workforce.

 As a charity, we operate to support communities socially isolated in a variety of ways, and this mindfully enables our team to support each other, whenever needed. It’s that culture of kindness and understanding that I believe more organisations should be embracing, especially in times as uncertain as now”.

Following the announcement Jonathan Austin, Founder and CEO of Best Companies remarked,

“Access Community Trust should be very proud of their achievement, demonstrating ‘world class’ levels of engagement. This accreditation is recognition of all they have done to be a best company to work for, and always putting their people first.”

The trust has recently completed its Easter holidays campaign, which saw over 21,000 children and their households supported across Norfolk and Suffolk, through it’s ‘PINK orange’ meal kits project, by providing nearing 200 tonnes of ingredients to assist with the cooking of around 500,000 wholesome meals.

Later this month, the organisation will further enhance its wellbeing offering, by adapting two vacant high street shops in Gorleston and Kings Lynn and transforming them into walk in mental health cafes, which will offer crisis support to anyone locally that needs assistance. Called STEAM House, the welcoming cafés will open 7 days a week, until late into the evening.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: 500 winter kindness boxes boost Orbit’s independent living customers across region

Orbit housing’s independent living scheme customers in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving a special winter wellbeing box by regional charity Access Community Trust.

Containing various wellbeing goodies, the ‘winter kindness’ boxes have been created by Pink Orange, a service operated by Access Community Trust, and are being distributed to around 500 Orbit customers throughout March.

Charlotte Jones, Independent Living Scheme Regional Manager for Orbit in the East, said: “These winter kindness boxes are a fantastic idea and will be a real boost for our customers. Lockdown has been tough for everybody, but for those who are elderly and/or isolating, it has been especially difficult, so I hope these boxes will help to deliver some winter kindness into their lives and to show them that we are thinking of them.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Pink Orange has been working in partnership with local authorities across Norfolk and Suffolk, to provide ingredient kits to households across the region who are in need of a little extra support.

Emma Ratzer MBE from Access Community Trust, added: “People have been affected by the pandemic in many different ways, so we want our boxes to be relevant and helpful to their circumstance. The concept behind our winter kindness boxes is that they feature items relating to physical and mental wellbeing, so alongside the ingredients to prepare a simple winter meal are a wellbeing journal, mindfulness colouring pack, resistance exercise band, pedometer and personal care item”

“These wellbeing boxes have been sourced with lots of thought and attention and by the end of  March PINK Orange will have delivered over 12,000 of these boxes over winter to those in need and in addition to our usual PINK Orange ingredient kit offering”.

Trust’s PINK Orange service fights back against holiday hunger this Winter

 

After a busy Summer and Autumn school holiday service that saw the delivery of thousands of essential food kits to struggling families across Suffolk, regional charity Access Community Trust is finalising plans to run the service once again this Winter.

Demand for the charity’s PINK Orange service has increased intensely since its launch. With many more families seeking essential food assistance as the pandemic continues, the organisation made the decision to relocate its distribution hub to larger premises in Lowestoft this Winter. The new warehouse covers 4000sq feet, allowing for greater palletised storage and a larger workspace for increasing number of volunteer packers and drivers to remain safely socially distanced.

The importance of the service has not gone unnoticed with major supermarkets Morrisons and CO-OP providing an array of ingredients from customer donations and their own stock holding. This week regional brewer Adnams, who itself has been affected by the hospitality industry restrictions, pledged its support to the project by providing one of its fleet of lorries to help collect and deliver over 9 tonnes of ingredients from national food waste charity Fareshare.

Confirming the decision, Adnams International Development Manager Bradley Adnams said,

“The pandemic has created many challenges for families, businesses and communities. Adnams Community Trust programme continues to support many worthy causes across Suffolk. PINK Orange is a unique service in our heartland, which is addressing a continuing national crisis and we, as a responsible community-focused brewer are proud to help where we can.”

Community support continues to develop as Suffolk’s agricultural community including Alder Carr farm donate hundreds of sacks of wonky locally grown vegetables and fruit for the kits.

Access Community Trust’s CEO Emma Ratzer MBE commented,

“Over the winter and festive period PINK Orange will deliver meal kits to over 18,000 households containing approx 40,000 children throughout Suffolk and Norfolk. This service is only possible due to a mix of funding from Suffolk and Norfolk Community foundations and ongoing donations from the public and businesses alike. We hope that with continuing community backing PINK Orange will ensure to support struggling families far into the New Year and beyond with essential food provision in our region.”

For more information on supporting the project visit www.pinkorange.co.uk

Town’s Rotary clubs donate over £1200.00

Town’s Rotary clubs unite to help homeless

The Rotary Clubs of Lowestoft, South and East Point have pooled resources to help those in greatest need throughout Lowestoft and surrounding areas, with a donation to homelessness charity, Access Community Trust. A cheque for over £1200 was presented to Emma Ratzer MBE, CEO of Access, to help with continuing support for the town’s most vulnerable individuals.

Rotary have numerous fund raising initiatives throughout the year, these include the iconic Santa’s sleigh, variety concerts and a sporting dinner. Funds are then donated to charitable causes, both at home and internationally.

President John Denby of Lowestoft’s South Club commented:

“In the coming weeks many will find themselves struggling due to Coronavirus and whilst the Government has stepped in to help many financially, sadly the plight of the homeless remains in question.

We are providing this money to Access to ensure they can continue to support those at greatest risk, both physically and mentally in these unprecedented times with the care they need.”

Access Community Trust currently operates nine specialist housing projects throughout Suffolk and Norfolk, alongside providing an emergency eight person homeless hub in central Lowestoft, for some of the most vulnerable individuals in our community.

Receiving the cheque, the Trust’s CEO thanked the clubs remarking,

“There has been no greater time that charities like Access need as much financial support as possible. We currently have over 200 individuals and families in our care. They are now finding themselves even more vulnerable and detached from society as the country locks down. It’s a big challenge for us, but we stand strong and committed to providing even greater support to these people thanks to the generosity of the Rotary Clubs and others that continue to provide donations to us”.