As part of their corporate social responsibility to dedicate volunteering time to local causes, we were approached by the Mace Group to offer their services to any upcoming projects.
After the success of our Summer BBQ at our Harm Reduction drop-in, the Maggs team put a festive lunch on our wish list for the service users to provide a warm meal and holiday fun, and the project was born!
The team assembled the dinner, which included steak and kidney pies with all the trimmings, partnered with some delicious festive puds, and was attended by over 20 people.
Amy Rudge, Front of House at the Mace Group, explains: “We approached Maggs after wanting to focus on volunteering with a homelessness organisation, particularly around this time of year. So we got in touch with Melissa who pitched to us the idea of hosting a Christmas lunch at their harm reduction drop-in in Redditch.
The day was incredibly well-spent and the team thoroughly enjoyed their day with Maggs. It was great to see a full house, with everyone enjoying their food and learning about the fantastic work the team do there. Thank you for the opportunity!”
The drop-in is in place for our team to offer clean works, Naxolone provision and training, BBV testing, and a safe space to talk about alcohol and substance use for our current service users and those who haven’t used or heard about our services before, particularly in the Redditch area.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Bidfood Birmingham who donated the delicious pies and 60 mince pies for dessert. Other food was provided by the Mace team or the kind donations we’ve received in the last few weeks so thank you to everyone who made this day a success.
The Lush Worcester team also kindly donated goody bags of items for service users to take away as a festive treat, so a big thank you to them too!
Melissa, our Fundraising, Comms and Relationships Manager confirms: “After the success of the drop-in in the Summer, the team really wanted to put on something festive for this time of year, especially as Christmas isn’t always a great time for those experiencing homelessness.
The Mace Group came in and hit the ground running, put on a delicious dinner and donated lots of the food to make it happen. We really appreciate the hard work they put in.
Over the last year, we have seen the Harm Reduction drop-in become a staple to the community with around 12-13 service users accessing the service each week, but this lunch meant we welcomed 20 attendees. This to us is a complete success, and knowing people left with a full belly means the world to us. Thank you to the team at the Mace Group for choosing us to volunteer their time with us.”
The Harm Reduction team partners with homelessness, health providers, and other relevant agencies to engage people with services to address substance misuse and any health-related issue associated with substance dependency.
The team goes anywhere that a person experiencing homelessness needs support, provides various support, and works collaboratively to break down barriers to develop innovative and robust pathways to engage people and support our service users to adopt safer practices and reduce harm.
If you would like to know more about Harm Reduction or volunteer with us, please get in touch at info@maggsdaycentre.co.uk.
