Victoria Armstrong, founder and CEO of the Oasis Centre, comments on the “impact of partnership.”.
Something special happens when people get together to try and make a difference in the lives of others. It changes the atmosphere, challenges attitudes, and brings hope to a community.
Throughout our 17 years at The Oasis Centre we have been blessed with so many volunteers who have given their time, love, and energy to help support and care for people in need. Local people helping local people is wonderful, but when local businesses start helping local charities, the impact is powerful, and the effect it has on vulnerable, isolated, and disadvantaged people is simply life-changing!
As a small local charity, we focus on the people we are here to help. I often hear supporters say, “We didn’t know you existed,” and I often hear myself reply, “We are simply too busy helping people in need to ask for help ourselves!”
As all small charities know, it can be a struggle to find support. So, when the team at Roger Hannah was introduced to The Oasis Centre almost 4 years ago and offered their services free of charge to help us build our very own centre, it was a game changer for us as a charity. In those 4 years, the wonderful team at Roger Hannah has literally impacted every area of our charity, from donations of canned food and clothing for our charity shop to fundraising events, enabling us to start new and exciting projects to help the people we are so privileged to support.
A man came into Oasis this week. He lives in a tent in a park in Ashton. He found out about us and walked all the way from Ashton to Oasis here in Gorton. We were able to feed him, clothe him, give him new bedding for his tent, and, best of all, Dushy and the crisis team were able to start the long process of getting him back on his feet and into accommodation. This is not a unique situation by a long shot; we helped 92 people on Monday with lots of individual needs. As that man walked into the centre, with blood and mud all over his hands and the same clothes he had been wearing for the past month,. I thought of the Roger Hannah & Co. team working tirelessly to give these precious people a centre that they can call their own, open every day!
I am so very grateful for this wonderful partnership!