Winn Group is pleased to announce its support for St Martin’s Centre, as part of our growing CSR programme.

Our ‘NE6 and Beyond’ strategy focuses on assisting local good causes, as close to Byker as possible, offering them the financial assistance needed to not only maintain what they can offer those in need but also enhance that offering.

Continuing to flourish, our CSR programme can be found by clicking here, St Martin’s is the latest to benefit as we seek to make a tangible positive difference in the local community.

What is St Martin’s Centre?

They are a community centre based on the Byker-Walker boundary line, which supports families struggling financially. By offering a range of outreach programmes, they not only offer food parcels to targeted families known to them, and also referred to them by social services, but they also offer local experiences to children who may not otherwise have access to them.

By helping these struggling families, the centre, with our support, is able to make a real difference to the lives of children living in deprivation.

What is Winn Group supporting?

Winns is supporting two separate initiatives being run by the charity, the school holidays activities campaign and the Christmas Appeal:

• School Holidays Activities – This is a pot of money that is used to fund a host of different activities during the school holidays, targeting families who struggle with the essentials in life without even considering more expensive things like days out for the children. The Centre has booked a travelling panto to perform, with other ideas in the pipeline, including a bus trip out for the day, a healthy eating class, and a disco.
• Christmas Appeal – The Christmas time appeal will provide approximately 60 families with a gift and a food hamper during the festive season. A team of staff and volunteers will ensure each hamper is personalised, wrapped, and delivered in time for Christmas. These parcels will only go to families living in deprivation, in our local area, who otherwise would go without on Christmas.

What has the charity said about our support?

Suzanne Wellington, Chief Executive of St Martin’s Centre, said: “We are delighted with the donation and are extremely grateful for our relationship with Winn Group.

“The donation will enable us to deliver the vital services the charity provides to the local community, allowing us to continue with our mission of helping people live happy, healthy and safe lives.

“This generous donation will allow us to build on and enhance the services we provide at the centre for children and their families.

“The school holiday activities are forour families who cannot generally afford the experiences for their children that this donation will allow us to provide.

“A trip to the theatre, or a bus trip, can be out of reach for most families. This donation will allow children to interact with their peers, helping to improve social skills and build confidence whilst exploring new places and activities.

“Holiday hunger is a real issue for the children we support due to the level of poverty in our local area.  By providing food, we can help alleviate the financial pressure on families, whilst also giving children access to a nutritious snack.

“Christmas can also be a very difficult time for some of our families, adding extra pressure to those who struggle throughout the year to provide sufficient food and clothing for their families. 

“The hampers make a massive difference to the children’s experience of Christmas; providing a hamper can be the difference between a child waking up on Christmas morning with a gift or waking up with nothing.”

An example of our CSR programme in action

This is the latest example of our burgeoning CSR programme in action. Winn Group is proud of its roots and will never forget where it came from.

Ross Jackson, Deputy CSR Lead, said: “We know the importance of giving back to our local area.

“Charity quiz night, the Hadrian’s Wall Challenge, the Marathon Golf Challenge, the Sunshine Run…these are all examples of our charitable nature delivering tangible results for those in need.

“Although we continue with events that depend on staff engagement, we also seek to directly assist local charities.

“By doing this, in conjunction with St Martin’s, we are helping families living in deprivation on our doorstep.

“No child should look to the school holidays with trepidation, and no child should face a Christmas Day with nothing to open.

“If we can help, we will.”