M&S Food for Shelter

M&S Food for Shelter

13:59 PM, 27th November 2017, About 6 years ago 47

Text Size

Along with 12 other charities our reader Luke would like to point out that Marks and Spencers supports the anti-landlord charity Shelter.

“I’ve just popped out of my office to grab a sandwich from M&S and it would appear that a number of their products (in the sandwich section, at least) are having 5% of the cost donated to Shelter! Perhaps it’s worth letting members know to avoid such items and possibly even question M&S’s motives for this. I feel re-education is required.”

The M&S website says:

“Offer some shelter this Christmas

Twelve years with Shelter
We’ve been working in partnership with housing and homelessness charity Shelter for more than 12 years and, thanks to the generosity of our customers, we’ve raised £2.8 million through the sale* of our festive Food on the Move range of sandwiches, rolls and drinks.

Shelter’s free national helpline is open all year round to offer expert advice, support and legal aid to anyone struggling with issues related to housing and homelessness, no matter what their situation. It is manned by experts who will listen to and support people, and can help them take action or negotiate on their behalf. Just one call to Shelter can be the difference between somebody losing their home and keeping it.

How you can get involved
Five per cent of the sales from our Festive Collection for Shelter will go to help people struggling with homelessness and poor housing, so all you have to do to help is head to your nearest store and choose a festive drink, sandwich or snack. Right now, the money raised from these sales helps fund all calls answered by the Shelter helpline over Christmas.”

 


Share This Article


Comments

Luke P

13:42 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Trevor Cooper at 28/11/2017 - 13:18
Actually, Trevor, that might not be such a bad idea. A genuine homeless charity...get a couple of soup kitchens up-and-running and perhaps directly fund beds/overheads of the Salvation Army to take in those WE (the LLs homeless charity ) help.

Richard Adams

13:45 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Couldn't agree more with comments of Ros & Jamie. The Salvation Army for starters are more deserving of M&S support.

Dr Rosalind Beck

13:45 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Trevor Cooper at 28/11/2017 - 13:18
I agree with Luke that it is a very good idea. One way would be to have a crowdfunding page set up and then it would just be a matter of us very carefully making sure we give it to the right charities. We could have a small committee of 118 landlords overseeing it.

Richard U

15:12 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Nice to see a positive suggestion come from this. I will give a fixed proportion of my profits. Sadly that will decline with section 24 implementation. But, as a luckier member of the population I'm more than happy to do something to help those who are less fortunate.

TC

15:16 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

This is fantastic! OK so how do we turn the idea into an actionable plan? I am willing to give time to this (and of course a modest frequent financial contribution)

Dr Rosalind Beck

15:57 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Trevor Cooper at 28/11/2017 - 15:16
I have just passed this idea to a select few members of 118 with the idea of taking it further. We have often talked about this in the past, but maybe now is the time to put it into action.

TC

16:27 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 28/11/2017 - 15:57
Great! Let me know if I can do anything to help at any point....

Dr Rosalind Beck

16:35 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Trevor Cooper at 28/11/2017 - 16:27
Thanks, Trevor. Will do. I will ask for a separate brainstorming thread to be set up on it.

Robert M

17:03 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Trevor Cooper at 28/11/2017 - 15:16Hi Trevor, Ros, and others,
I have already set up a "not for profit" housing organisation that provides hostels for the homeless, with ongoing personal and tenancy support. We currently have eight small hostels in Sheffield, providing housing and support to 29 residents. We receive referrals from homelessness organisations and day centres, other homeless hostels, churches (faith based groups), charities that work with offenders, charities that work with people with mental health issues, drug or alcohol issues, low level learning difficulties (so not entitled to Social Services help), and physical disabilities.
We provide supported hostel accommodation for as many people as we can, not just for a very limited range of people (unlike services set up for "young people", or "ex-offenders", or other narrowly defined group). We have residents ranging from about 20 years old, up to residents well into their 70's.
We provide support to residents via two visiting Support Workers, who will work with the residents to help them put in place the necessary foundations for successfully re-settling into the community, breaking the cycle of homelessness, and contributing back to society (e.g. reducing crime, reducing drug/alcohol use, taking on roles as volunteers at local charities), and eventually resuming independent living in their own self-contained accommodation.
I set up the organisation in 2004, and have been running it on a "not for profit" basis since then, and during that time we have provided accommodation for 457 people.
We receive no government funding, and no charitable funding, we rely on Housing Benefit for the running costs of the hostels, but the cost of the Support Workers has to be funded elsewhere (HB will not fund the personal support). To enable us to fund the Support Workers, we have set up a commercial utilities brokerage service, and the commissions we earn from this help to pay for the Support Workers.
Finding funds to pay the Support Workers is the factor that prevents us from providing much more supported hostel accommodation. If we could fund more Support Workers, then we could provide accommodation for many more homeless people.

Robert M

17:08 PM, 28th November 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 28/11/2017 - 16:35
Hi Ros

I will happily share my "not for profit" business model with you if you wish.

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now