A reset

Morning! Our friend and member Charlotte has spent all weekend helping out a family who need urgent and immediate help. This is a family on the edge and we thank Charlotte for her diligence and the incredible and timely assistance she and her friends were able to provide. We’ve sent Charlotte the £500 in order to help rip out and re-lay the carpet and get this family back on its feet. It takes a village x



Hi Joe, 

I’m not sure if your group can help? 

Over the last week one of my committee who works at a local school had been made aware of a family who was/are in real need. 

The family were not on the school’s radar as the 2 primary school aged boys go to school clean and tidy and mum helps on school trips etc. 

Both parents work for the NHS doing low paid jobs. They live in social housing. 

The social housing provider had been trying to get into the home for over 18 months and eventually almost forced the issue and got into the home. The officer said it was the worst house he had ever seen. 

OCH has supported this family with food support via a supermarket voucher and food bank type food also, extensive cleaning products, new bedding for the children. 

Yesterday 11 of us went to help parents get on top of the home - collectively we were there for 40 hours plus. 

The home is in the worst condition and parents are embarrassed and verbally ashamed. We made huge strides with helping with the home - we took bedroom furniture, rugs, sofa, chairs, shoe racks, curtains and after about 25 tip runs we have cleared the patio area of their garden so they have some outside space. 

The floor was in such a dreadful state with dried in faeces that the team had to get on the floor with wallpaper scrappers and elbow grease and scrub!! 

The house is infested with flies, extensively, which we hope will start to subside now that the home is better (by no means ideal as it really needed to be gutted).

Due to the parents mental health and trying to work, care for the boys and the home it has cumulatively over the years, got to this state; they feel that this is the help they needed and that they are now at a baseline to move on positively from. 

They have no carpet down except on the stairs which is urine saturated from their dog who has died and sticky underfoot and it’s enticing the flies. 

The family need a considerable amount of help but as a starting point a stair carpet would help their living conditions so much. 

As a small charity we have helped them as much as we can so a stair carpet is not anything we can currently help with. 

The family really need some joy and a helping hand - they are so appreciative and eager to make things better. 

If you need anymore information please shout 😃