A leading housing provider has helped a Lincolnshire domestic abuse charity in its hour of need by purchasing two brand new freezers for its refuge.
Longhurst Group, which owns and manages more than 23,000 homes across the Midlands and East of England and has offices in Boston, Lincoln and Grimsby, bought the freezers for EDAN Lincs after their previous items broke down.
A £120 supermarket voucher was also donated to the charity to help cover the costs of replacing food that was lost as a result of the breakdown.
The Group stepped in after Lettings Advisor Diane Westwood – who herself has received support from EDAN Lincs to escape domestic abuse – spotted their appeal on social media.
She said: “EDAN is very close to me as they supported me and my children to flee domestic abuse in March last year. Without their support, I don’t think I would’ve recognised it for what it was, or even got out.
“I follow them on Facebook and they put an appeal out on Monday saying theirs had broken down and could any companies gift them replacements.
“I knew about our Housing Team Donation Fund and sent a screenshot of the post to Jennifer Coatsworth, our Housing Services Manager, to see if it was possible for us to buy the items.
“I was absolutely delighted when Jen called to say that we could purchase both freezers. I spoke to the manager at the refuge, who actually started to cry because she was so grateful for the offer.
“Jen asked me to look on the Currys website and send her some links. She also told me we could give a £120 supermarket voucher for them to restock any lost food.
“Jen is really the one who deserves credit for this, as she made it all possible.”
Diane said she was passionate about supporting organisations who help victims of domestic abuse.
She added: “I know how much this means to EDAN. Domestic abuse is constantly in the news and I know they’re overrun with enquiries and supporting victims of domestic abuse through their outreach services and refuge.
“Their funding is low and they cannot reach everyone, so for Longhurst Group, which also does a lot of work to support victims of domestic abuse, to do something like this shows that we do care.
“There is still so much stigma attached to domestic abuse and society has always played it down by saying that it is personal problems.
“Only by it being on the news will it become something that we will all work against.”
A spokesperson for EDAN Lincs said they were very grateful for the ongoing support of Longhurst Group, having received other items from the Group in the past.
They said: “We were delighted to accept the very generous donation of two freezers for our refuge along with the donation of £120 supermarket vouchers to replace the wasted items when our freezers broke down recently.
“This, coupled with the donations already made by the Group this year including two preloved laptops, an Amazon Fire tablet, two vacuum cleaners and cash donation of £1,500 is such a huge help to our charity.
“Their contribution will make a huge difference to many people’s lives and will help us to support them to live a life free from abuse.”
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