On the 27th September 2018, New Roots hosted a Macmillan Coffee Morning; led by Frankie Harrison-Smith. We all helped to set up the morning for this amazing cause. Frankie had also decided that she would ‘Brave The Shave’. She had set up an online donations page and people were also able to donate through the office. The morning was spent setting up the boardroom, and all the staff baked cakes and brought them in for the occasion. We had invited all of our providers to the event and whilst a some couldn’t make it they did make sure they donated very generously. After we were all filled with cake and coffee, the main event was about to begin. Jess very kindly offered to shave off the hair. We all gathered around and watched as Frankie took the plunge. After around 10 minutes it was done, and we here at New Roots couldn’t be happier for her. The new hair really suits her and she raised over £600. Janine Phillips, the MD here at New Roots has very kindly said she will match that figure! Congratulations Frankie!
If you would like to donate you still can, just visit: https://bravetheshave.macmillan.org.uk/shavers/frankie-harrisonsmith/
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The 3rd Monday of each New Year has been deemed “Blue Monday”- the saddest day of the year. Christmas and New Year have just passed, it’s time to get back to work and we’re all strapped for cash with some of us even being enormously in debt from buying presents and partying. As well as this, Britain tries to be Wintery, but fails and ends up just spitting cold rain in all our faces and mischievously planting black ice over the roads. Thanks for that, Britain. Our motivation levels are low and we’ve probably failed our New Year’s Resolutions already. Now I can see why it’s called Blue Monday.
Throughout the Christmas period, people get more into the festive season; with that comes helping others. They donate more to charities, open shelters to the homeless and generally try to be a cheerier person. That’s all great, but shortly after Christmas and the New Year overnight shelters close and people’s urge to help others fades and so does their need to support those with less than they. Apparently, 1 in every 119 people is homeless in Birmingham and at the end of 2015 there were 1.123 million homeless people living there. So, according to this there would be roughly 9,437 people homeless in Birmingham. That’s where New Roots comes in. New Roots: a non-profit charity that aims to help and house those in and around Birmingham- “accommodating those who need it most.” At the end of 2017, New Roots housed 1315 of them, with 1023 being male and 292 being female. Compared to the end of 2016, we have been able to home 496 more people in 2017! Vulnerable and deemed “non-priority” for social housing, 18-30 year olds was the most prevalent in the 1315 people we housed, with 30 year olds being 6% of the total amount of people we housed. Asked to leave by family and friends, relationship breakdowns (which can sometimes include domestic violence), disputes and feuds with neighbours and extremely poor current living conditions were the most prominent factors causing homelessness. New Roots is here all year round. Through rain and shine, the staff always put their all into doing anything they can in order to help people from all walks of life. Support staff and site supervisors ensure that residents feel safe and happy- admin staff takes care of the paperwork, making certain that people are getting paid when necessary and actually finding people a suitable place to live. Since our first monitored referral, on the 30th January 2006, we have housed 7,989 people and have been a registered charity since 1996. Fear not though, one simple act of kindness can change someone’s life forever. So, to make your Blue Monday less blue and more yellow, why not do something to help? Donate a monetary contribution via our PayPal link? Kindly give some unneeded furniture? Come down and bring some clothes you no longer want or need? If none of that floats your boat, a simple “hello, how are you doing?” and a little follow up chat can change someone’s outlook on life (trust me, it can work). Or, just help raise awareness: share this post, tell your friends about New Roots or just be a little bit kinder. A little bit more patient. A little bit more compassionate and understanding. Because all of us need to be kinder, more patient and more compassionate as well as understanding in order to make a difference, which all of us can do, whether we realise it or not. Good Afternoon everyone. It’s the 1st of December today and the time has come for New Roots to get into the festive spirit of Christmas. We’ve decked the office with decorations, tinsel and colour coordinated baubles. New Roots has a lot prepared for Christmas such as office staff events and our shoe box appeal. We hope that this Christmas brings a lot of generosity, love and care to our residents and staff.
Today we had The Learning Works come into our News Roots head office to run an open day for our residents seeking employment. The Learning Works offer advice and job roles within NHS hospitals in West Birmingham and the newly built Sandwell hospital . 12 of our residents took part today and showed eagerness to apply themselves to the opportunities offered by the staff from the learning works.
The Learning Works also run a job centre based programme which helps people find employment in their local NHS hospitals in Birmingham. The appointments run from Monday to Friday and are available throughout the day. They offer support such as Job searches within the NHS, interview skills, letter writing and local vacancy bulletins. Go check them out on Twitter @TheLearningWorks Website Link: https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/work-for-us/the-learning-works/ This will be Bearwood’s first high street festival event taking place with community-led music, theatre and art festivals right in the heart of the neighbourhood. Us at New Roots will be taking part in festival and hosting our own stand based on art created by the residents, staff and Leon Gallagher our art teacher. We aim to promote New Roots and our services to the public and to raise money from our stand to put towards providing better services to help those in need of it.
We are taking part in the festival to reach out the community of Bearwood and to raise awareness of New Roots as charity. We hope to see many faces and receive many support from the community and fellow staff members to spread a positive message about us and to help a life. Our residents took part in a group leadership course with Nigel Cole from We Are Cycling UK. Before the bike ride began we completed unit 1 of the leadership course which involved a risk assessment, emergency operating procedures, planning our journey and checking the bikes over. At the end of the group leadership course the tenants will receive a certificate for taking part in the leadership course.
Our journey started off at Edgbaston Reservoir and then up towards the canals, we continued towards city road and past city hospital towards Winson Green prison. As we got to Winson Green, we went past Winson Green Train Station towards Handsworth. Then from Handsworth we continued towards Birmingham Snow Hill and back to the canals near Barclay Arena, the sea life centre and back up to the reservoir. In total, we done a 9-mile bike ride which was planned previously at the head office before we head out to Edgbaston Reservoir. New roots is here to help rebuild the lives of our tenants and now our tenants are here to rebuild the city. In partnership with Carillion, our tenants are given the opportunity to sign up to the development of the new Midlands Metropolitan Hospital. This has opened up new opportunities for our tenants to help with employment and the community.
“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” Charles Horton Cooley (American Sociologist)We are delighted to welcome Leon Gallagher to New Roots who is working with tenants to develop our new art project which has already it has gone from strength to strength and is proving very popular. We have created a space where tenants meet weekly on a Tuesday morning to create art with guidance and support from Leon.
Attendees come together to explore painting and drawing techniques discuss making art and seek inspiration from each other. Creative activities offer many benefits to the participants, increase confidence, self-esteem and social skills, and provide opportunities for future education, training and employment. The project provides an opportunity to be part of a group, provide inspiration and motivation for change as well as a positive channel for self-expression and great art! “An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” Charles Horton Cooley (American Sociologist) Thank you to everyone who took part, attended, sponsored and supported us
Thank you to everyone who took part, attended, sponsored and supported us. We were very fortunate to have a lovely sunny day, over 20 cyclists took part and we raised an amazing £3,447. We had a fabulous day with superb food music, raffle and children's entertainment, many thanks to the staff and volunteers that made it all happen |
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