Home improvement retailer, Wickes, and social enterprise, VIY (Volunteer It Yourself), have supported London-based charity Community Links to help refresh a property so that it is available for an affordable housing company to use for a property guardian.
The charity, Community Links, which provides support to thousands of people to help them thrive and achieve their goals, put forward seven female volunteers for this project in Newham. The volunteers were supported by VIY mentors, and over two days repainted and decorated a residential property looked after by a housing social enterprise, Dot Dot Dot.
Dot Dot Dot secures properties which would otherwise be empty and places property guardians within them. The guardians are offered sub-market value rent in exchange for volunteer work. Following the refurbishment, they will now use this house to accommodate guardians. Over the course of the programme, the volunteers all received City and Guilds Entry Level 3 Painting and Decorating accreditation.
The project was supported by the Wickes store in Canning Town, which donated all the tools and materials required, together with covering the cost of professional tradespeople to act as mentors on the ground.
