Network Homes staff hit new fundraising heights at the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge for St Mungo’s

Forty members of staff from Network Homes completed the 24 mile Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge on Thursday 6 September, raising £20,000 for homelessness charity St Mungo’s!  

Throughout the hilly journey, the hikers tackled 5,200ft of ascents, while also battling the Yorkshire wind and rain. The three peaks represent the three pillars of St Mungo’s and the journey someone can go through when getting support from St Mungo’s:

• Recovery
• Accommodation
• Emergency services.

St Mungo’s is a charity working with people who are sleeping rough, in hostels and at risk of homelessness in London and South England. Network Homes’ staff chose St Mungo’s as the company’s Charity of the Year. They aim to end homelessness and rebuild lives with their three pillars – recovery, emergency services and accommodation.

According to CHAIN, there were 7,484 rough sleepers in London in 2017/18 and this figure does not include less visible forms of homelessness such as sofa surfing or people living in hostels. There are also 54,000 homeless households in London in temporary accommodation. According to St Mungo’s 92% of clients have complex needs and 73% have mental health issues.

As a social housing provider, Network Homes shares St Mungo’s goals of ending homelessness. Network Homes is working to help stop homelessness in London not only by raising money for St Mungo’s, but also by:

• Working in close partnership with St Mungo’s who are managing agents at two Network Homes schemes
• Providing rooms for New Horizon Youth Centre, a charity which supports homeless young people across London into stable employment.
• Providing rooms for several organisations that need accommodation to support homeless people.
• Providing temporary housing for families who have been made homeless - we currently house over 1,000 homeless families across London.
• Working to promote our services to private landlords to offer more temporary accommodation – helping to avoid homeless families having to stay in B&Bs.

This is our third year supporting St Mungo’s as our Charity of the Year and it’s wonderful to see our staff really get behind their cause of ending homelessness and rebuilding lives. We believe good homes make everything possible and our support of St Mungo’s ties into the work we’re doing to provide more affordable homes for people in London and the South East.

Fiona Deal, Executive Director of People and Technology at Network Homes

Gabriel Codjoe, Director of Housing and Three Peaks Challenger said: “This was a really tough challenge for all of us to overcome but it was worth it in the end to raise money for St Mungo’s. It was great to see staff from all over Network come together – we had front and back-end staff all working together to achieve this challenge. Some great new working relationships and friendships have been created from this challenge, which will benefit our staff and residents through improved working together.”

Rob Neale, Corporate Partnership Officer at St Mungo’s, said: “The support of Network Homes over the last three years has been a fantastic help to St Mungo’s, our clients and services. We would like to thank each of the 40 staff who took on this challenging feat, as well as their friends, family, and sponsors. We look forward to continuing to work together in the future and join us in our mission to end homelessness.”

Network Homes was supported in its fundraising by four main sponsors: Henry, Hill, Oakray and United Living.

Other companies have also chosen to support Network Homes as secondary sponsors: Galliford Try, Philip Pank Partnership, Pinnacle, MCM, MS Solutions, RBC Capital Markets and Willow Pumps.

Donations can be made at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/network-homes.