Baylis donation ‘helped us to save lives’

SLOUGH: A £2,500 donation from the Louis Baylis Trust helped Slough Homeless

Our Concern (SHOC) to ‘save lives’ during an incredibly difficult time for homeless people.

In March, SHOC had to close its day centre due to the pandemic.

“People have told us they lost their support, their anchor,” said Mandy McGuire, project manager at SHOC.

In response, SHOC made itself as available as possible, providing mobile phones so that the charity could be reached when needed, and laptops to staff so they could continue to work from home.

“The donation from the Louis Baylis Trust provided us with that safety net and allowed us to react very quickly,” said Mandy.

“That money helped us to save lives. It’s as strong as that.”

Though homeless people were quickly housed in empty hotels during the initial months of the pandemic, some individuals struggled with being confined to a single room, unable to connect with their community.

Now certain COVID-19 restrictions have eased, hotels need their rooms back and homeless people have moved out. Not all moved on to permanent accommodation.

SHOC reopened its day centre in July, ready to help these individuals.

The extra money from the Trust helped SHOC prepare the space with hand sanitiser and PPE, including providing face masks to everyone who visits.

SHOC is now supporting 84 people. The charity anticipates this number will continue to rise.

“Just the PPE is expensive, so having the extra money is amazing,” said Mandy.

The Louis Baylis Trust was set up in 1962 by Louis Baylis and is the owner of the Express paper’s publisher Baylis Media Ltd.

The trust works independently from the newspapaer and distributes grants to charities and good causes operating in our communities.