Customer Engagement Team raise money for Salvation Army

At the end of 2022, our Customer Engagement Department successfully donated £372 to our local Salvation Army (Ripley, Derbyshire) after running a ‘dress down Friday’ donation scheme.

The Salvation Army do amazing work in the local area, supporting vulnerable families and children. Besides supporting the community with food parcels and warm Fridays on the second and last Friday of the month (between 10am and 2pm) until the end of March, they support their friends in the Care in the Community group.

This group (part of DCC) support youngsters coming out of care and help them set up home in the community. Obviously, money is very tight, the youngsters need to find employment and training to help them get on in life.

The charity help by providing food parcels each month (on top of their usual Foodbank operation) and anything else that gets donated such as: household products – washing up liquid, cleaning products, cutlery, pots and pans, baby food, tin openers etc, the list is very long.

Providing these items as and when they are donated, saves these youngsters having to spend what benefits they receive.

"Thank you for your kind donation of £372 which we received recently, it was very kind of you to think of us, we really appreciate your support.

"It has been a busy time for us supporting vulnerable families in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire. And as expected, once Christmas and New Year have passed, people then get their bills in and find that they are short of funds so rely on food banks even more.

"We can only do what we do with the support of the community, local authorities and businesses like yourselves as we are self-funding. Many thanks again for your support”. - Ian Brown (Corps Secretary, Ripley)

Anybody wanting to donate items can drop them off at the Salvation Army Church on Heath Road, Ripley DE5 3EN on Tuesday afternoons between 1pm and 3.30pm and Friday’s between 10am and 2pm.