Portsmouth financial technology firm Dunstan Thomas supports homeless charity

Luisa Partridge, director at Dunstan Thomas who helped select the local charity to back, said: “Most of the employees of Dunstan Thomas, based at Lakeside North Harbour, Portsmouth, live close by. So, it made sense for us to commit to supporting a worthy cause in the local community.

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“After much discussion, we chose the inspirational LifeHouse, based in Southsea, which is a free food kitchen, resource and support centre for the homeless.”

Every Wednesday, the local charity serves a hot breakfast in its Southsea centre to up to 100 homeless and unhoused in the area. To date, over 30 per cent of Dunstan Thomas employees have volunteered to support the LifeHouse breakfasts.

Mike Morrell, manager of The LifeHouse explains how the Dunstan Thomas volunteers support his regular team. He said: “Having this extra manpower at these key moments is vital for us. It gives us more time to reach out to visitors to ascertain what their current housing and personal situation is.

“We can then route them towards the help they need. Key support services send representatives during these key times. So, in many cases we are able to put them in front of the right type of support as soon as they finish eating.”

The LifeHouse also provides a hot evening meal to up to 100 people every Thursday and delivers 50 or so take-aways at its front door during service times. In addition, for those which are isolated and house bound, they deliver up to 700 food bags per month directly to people’s doors.

As part of their ongoing commitment, Dunstan Thomas’s marketing team has redesigned the charity’s website at www.lifehouse.org.uk and marketing materials for handing out at fund raising events.

Currently, The LifeHouse is running an appeal for more tents and sleeping bags as it gears up to support increasing numbers of people which they anticipate will need their help this winter and beyond.

Ihab El-Saie, chief executive of Dunstan Thomas, added: “We have long supported Singing Gorilla Projects, a charity established by our founder (Christopher Read), which funds and facilitates community-based projects in Uganda. I am very pleased that we have now selected The LifeHouse, a local charity to support both financially and by volunteering. It is impressive that a third of our staff have already signed up to give their time to support this essential service provided to the homeless.”