On Thursday of this week members of Olliers were delighted to have been invited to volunteer at the Booth Centre in Manchester City Centre. Janet, Sharon, Toby, Laura, Martha, Rekha, Codie, and Nathalie all attended bright and early in order to assist with the serving of breakfast, before continuing to participate in a variety of activities which took place throughout the morning in the Centre.
The Booth Centre – Leading Homeless Day Centre
The Booth Centre is renowned for being one of the leading day centres for homeless people, offering food, support, advice, education and, perhaps above all, a welcoming and accepting environment for homeless people. It is an invaluable service in the heart of Manchester City Centre.
The Olliers team were keen to get involved, working in the kitchen and serving a hearty breakfast to the numerous service users. Thereafter Sharon, Janet, Rekha and Toby continued in the kitchen preparing a delicious lunch (Toby’s sausage casserole was said to be the tastiest yet!) whilst Martha and Codie assisted in the English classes which took place upstairs in the centre. Laura and Nathalie helped, or hindered, with the sewing activities, making waterproof hoods out of fabrics donated by supporters.
The day concluded with everyone sat together, service users, volunteers, and staff for a lovely home made lunch whilst being serenaded by an avid Jonny Cash fan.
Nathalie said:
‘This was a fantastic experience. What struck us all was that there was a definite sense of mutual respect and camaraderie between the staff, volunteers and service users.’
Olliers Solicitors – Criminal Defence Lawyers
The day was organised by Director David Philpott and follows fundraising by Olliers staff for the Booth Centre in December 2015 for the Tatton Yule Yomp 10k race. Olliers have also previously raised money for the Booth Centre participating in the Manchester Sleep Out – sleeping outside Manchester Cathedral in extreme weather conditions overnight.
In addition to this Olliers participate in the annual Manchester Legal Walk raising funds for the North West Legal Support Trust, an organisation giving grants to legal advice organisations. We have also collected toys for the Key103 Christmas appeal, collected money for the Wood Street Mission charity which alleviates the effects of poverty on local children and families and organised a food collection for the Mad Dogs Project which provides meals and takes them out on to the streets of Manchester for the homeless.
Olliers would like to thank all those involved at the Booth Centre for their assistance in organising the day and if you are interested in volunteering we would highly recommend becoming involved with the Booth Centre.
