WARRINGTON-based Ombudsman Services (OS) has donated £2,500 to its newly appointed charity partner Room at the Inn, which last week resulted in the creation of a new day room in their centre.
Located on Winmarleigh Street, Warrington, Room at the Inn provides daytime services to homeless and vulnerable people and a 22-bed emergency accommodation unit. Their staff and volunteers support people through very difficult times and help them access the services they need to go forward with their lives.
The previous day room at the centre was becoming too small for visitors and had no access to natural daylight. With the help of the funds raised by OS colleagues, Room at the Inn were able to purchase paint and new lighting for a larger space they identified at the centre, which was transformed last week by 18 colleagues from OS, who collectively provided three days of their time to clear out the new space, clean it and decorate it, painting the walls and woodwork. Along with the funds raised to make this happen, OS has also donated some extra furniture for the new day room.
Helen Fearon, Deputy Manager of Room at the Inn, said: “This will have a lasting impact on many people who find themselves homeless and in need of our services, and is a much more welcoming space than our previous lounge area. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but we have been without the manpower to take on such a big job ourselves. The staff who came into the centre were friendly and hardworking, and we have loved having them here!”
Simon Thornton, Senior Leader for Legitimacy at OS, said: “Room at the Inn are the latest local charity partner to be selected by our colleagues and what better way to kick the relationship off by sending a team over there to improve a valuable service to their users. Through fundraising and hardworking volunteers, seeing the new day room be created was a great way to show their team how committed we are to helping them this year.”
Creating a new day room for Room at the Inn is just one of many community projects that OS gets involved with throughout the year, alongside volunteer work with Camp Project Wales, Mersey Forest, Warrington Foodbank, Cares Family Club and more.
