Investing in our Communities

For the fourth year, we have continued to support a women’s refuge that helps women affected by domestic violence by providing emergency shelter and advice and counselling to the women and their children.

In 2022, PSD’s donation helped to cover management costs that were not covered by the charity’s received grants, provided funding for some of the immediate purchases that the women, children and young people need when beginning their transition into their new lives, having left violent households and situations. PSD’s donation in general helped the charity provide more intensive support to women and children in crisis in supporting the refuge’s purpose in serving these clients to transition to an independent life

PSD supports The Laughing Hearts charity, which supports children living in children’s homes and social care. The charity aims to provide the children with cultural, sport and art activities and social events to which they would otherwise not have access. The aim is to break the cycle of disadvantage and broaden the children’s experiences, and give them a more positive outlook for the future. PSD’s donation to Laughing Hearts in 2022 facilitated the purchase of a garden swing, well-received new-experiences trips for the children to Hamburg and Hungary, residential items for the charity’s facilities, as well as the opportunity to attend workshops and camp to learn English.

In early 2022, PSD made available a number of apartments on a rent-free basis for Ukrainian refugees. These tenants have transitioned into long-term tenancies with the costs covered by the Berlin district of Teltow Fläming. Several of the tenants have already found employment and children have been provided with school places.

QSix, our key partner and Property Advisor, continued to support SHP for a fourth year. Their funding with SHP supports an employability programme that helps homeless people or those at high risk of becoming homeless to find a job and secure a sustainable income that enables them to afford housing. In 2022, 180 people took part in the Achieving Potential employability programme that is funded by QSix.

This year, QSix also donated towards our Big Give Christmas match-funding campaign which saw their £10,000 turned into £30,000. This helped to support approximately 263 people with micro-grants for emergency funding to help them pay for things such as energy bills, food, identification, mobile phones, or qualifications to progress with their career goals. QSix also funded recovery sessions as part of our Opportunities Programme, which include therapy, art, sports, gardening and music.

Funds donated by QSix were also used for ‘move-on packs’ for people that are about to move back into their own accommodation. This helps to give them basic furnishings for their home such as a kettle, towels, bedding etc. in order to live independently. In total this year, support from QSix helped support 443 people in some way.

QSix provides funding to SPEAR to run an outreach service, helping rough sleepers in Southwest London to secure accommodation and to support them to address vital health and social care needs. In 2022, this helped 644 people experiencing homelessness.

QSix has in 2022 started to provide funding to a third charity, Home-Start. With its distinctive offer of volunteer-led home visiting support, Home-Start stands alongside families in communities across the UK, in its aim to ensure that no parent or family feels alone in the critical task of raising children, in its belief that “childhood can’t wait.”