Bags of Charity makes good 'Sense'

“What can I do with the things that I need to clear out?”

This is a regular question that Bullock Liaison Officers are asked when they are consulting with tenants on how to prepare for work in their homes.

With this in mind Pam Hyland, Bullock Liaison Officer working on the InCommunities site at Burley in Wharfedale and Mark St. George, Bullock Customer Care Manager came up with an idea that would solve this problem and help raise vital funds for a local charity – “Bags of Charity.”

The idea involved Bullock collecting unwanted items from tenants that could be re-distributed to a local charity and sold in their shops.

After careful consideration, ‘Sense’ (a national charity for deaf and blind), was chosen and it was agreed that Bullock Liaison Officers would issue tenants with Sense collection bags at the ‘21 days before work starts’  stage. This allows tenants to dispose of unwanted household items, provides greater movement around their home for Bullock tradesmen, and equally important, helps the environment by reducing the number of skips required on site to dispose of unwanted household items.

Bags are collected at the ‘7 days prior to work starting’ stage and stored on-site before ‘Sense’ collect and take to their warehouse where bags are sifted for items that can be sold in Sense shops in Skipton and Shipley.

The initiative commenced in March 2009 and in just 3 months Bullock Liaison Officers have managed to collect a grand total of 101 bags - our first centenary milestone! The Manager of the Sense shop in Skipton has expressed thanks for the effort of Bullock and tenants on all current Incommunities sites for the support they have given to the charity.

The photo above shows Christine Page from Burley in Wharfedale passing a charity bag to Pam Hyland, Bullock Tenant Liaison Officer, and Pam passing a bag to the Sense collector.