Apprentices collect clothes for homeless charities

Apprentices from Anchor Hanover’s care homes and Bradford office have collected clothes and other items for homeless charities across the country.

The 11 apprentices have chosen National Apprenticeship Week to donate boxes of adult clothing, food and toiletries to organisations helping homeless people.

Angelle Dudley-Shaw, Leah Fowler, Evan Clark and Aisha Ahmed, based in Anchor Hanover’s office in Godwin Street, Bradford, have collected the boxes of items from colleagues for homeless charity Inn Churches.

Angelle, 19, who has worked in the recruitment team since last October, said: “We felt that not enough was being done to support homeless people in Bradford so we chose this week to highlight the great work apprentices do while also helping the most needy in the local community.”

Fellow apprentice Beth Hopwood, 18, who works at The Cedars care home in Stoke, collected items for homeless shelter Norsaca.

Beth, who has been an apprentice since November last year, said she wanted to work in the care sector to follow in the footsteps of her mum and nan.

She said: “I’m now the third generation of my family who work in care and I absolutely love my job.
“Every day is different and I feel I’m making a positive contribution to the wellbeing of the older people living here.”

Molly Grice and Natalia Maggio, both 18, who work at Landemere care home in Derby, said their work with older people helped them realise the importance of supporting society’s most vulnerable people.

Natalia said: “Older people have done so much for society when they were younger so I wanted to give something back. Working in care has given me the opportunity to develop as a person and help society’s most vulnerable people. This homeless appeal is an extension of that.”

Other apprentices helping homeless charities this week are: Sophie Hill, from The Cedars, Georgia Brown and Amy O’Dwyer, from Victoria Court in Ilkeston, and Kareiss Goodall, from Wellington Lodge in Manchester.

Paula Borland, Talent & Early Careers Manager for Anchor Hanover, which is England’s largest not-for-profit provider of care and housing for older people, said:

“We are always looking for apprentices who are passionate about providing top quality care and have an empathy with older people.

“Anchor Hanover offers many opportunities to turn a job in care into a career, including support for further professional qualifications and to progress up the career ladder.

“Since 2015 our apprenticeship programme has realised the potential of many remarkable young carers, and has won many awards, including the Rate My Apprenticeship Award 2017, based on feedback from our apprentices.”