Financial planners dig deep for homeless charity

A cheque for more than £1,400 has been donated to a homeless charity by a Greater Birmingham-based firm of chartered financial planners.

Eastcote Wealth Management made the donation to Sifa Fireside, which supports more than 200 vulnerable people, allowing them to access emergency housing, employment, resettlement, health and wellbeing while providing hot food, clothing and showers, food parcels to those who need them, mobile phones to ensure they can stay connected, and help with maintaining tenancies.

Eastcote Wealth Management (EWM) has helped Sifa Fireside in their continued need for donations after many fund-raising events were cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Based at Eastcote, near Solihull, EWM specialises in financial planning, with over 1,500 private and corporate clients and a management portfolio of almost £500 million funds.

Rob Kenyon, an EWM director, said: “Clearly, fundraising has been a little restricted! There was a climb up Snowdon planned for the summer but that didn 't happen, along with the traditional charity quiz, darts nights, Christmas bake-off and any number of other ad-hoc get-togethers. ”

The firm did however manage to raise £402.39 from events held before lockdown and contributed an additional £1,000 to help make up the shortfall.

A Sifa Fireside spokesperson commented: “Our most vulnerable citizens need help to find long-term, sustainable routes out of homelessness.They need people to fight for their rights. In Birmingham, where many adults are homeless or threatened with homelessness, rough sleeping is on the rise. ”

They added: “We are very grateful for the support from the whole EWM team, and for the incredible £1,000 donation from the directors. Thanks for all you have done to allow us to continue running our drop-in centre. Throughout every difficulty we've faced this year, it has meant so much to us. ”