Amey and Hays support local community tea rooms with grant fund

The charity, Liberty Tea Rooms and Community Hub, which has been operating in the centre of Hemel Hempstead since June 2017, have thanked Amey and Hays for the generous donation and support towards their charity work. The community run, community supported, and community focused tea rooms is so much more than tea and cake, by helping to free people from poverty and isolation and bringing hope back into peoples’ lives. With over 60 staff volunteers, aged between 18 and upper 80s, Liberty Tea Rooms and Community Hub create a welcoming, inclusive space for everyone to be involved, belong and thrive.

The £10,000 grant fund is part of the Amey Hays Social Value Fund, providing support to a small number of VCSEs (voluntary, community or social enterprise organisations) and offering support to help with their operations.

The CEO of Liberty Tea Rooms and Community Hub, Owen Cooper said: “This support can help the business so much and will enable us to flourish in the future by continuing to offer our life changing free empowerment services and to give hope to our community. We have such a heart to work in partnership with many great organisations and we are so encouraged and pleased that Amey and Hays are partnering with us, to help with our journey in the future. Not only have they helped with a financial grant, but they are also giving professional HR, marketing and website design advice. As a small charity, this help is invaluable.”

Sue Racster, Social Value Manager at Amey added: “We are delighted to be working with Hays in support of this community-focused organisation. We’re incredibly passionate about sustainable procurement and this programme enables us to support organisations beyond our own supply chain. We're looking forward to working with Liberty Tea Rooms and Community Hub, their tireless efforts create a ripple effect of positive change, touching lives and uplifting the community. Here’s to the power of local action.”

Elisabetta Bayliss, Chief Operating Officer of Enterprise Solutions at Hays, commented: “It’s so important to be able to give back to the communities we live and work amongst, and to be able to provide both financial and volunteer support to Liberty Tea Rooms is really exciting. Social isolation and loneliness are key challenges within today’s society, so we’re really pleased to be able to support this worthwhile project and help it thrive alongside Amey.”

Liberty Tea Rooms operate on total trust and honesty, having an honesty box payment system, where the tea rooms does not charge prices for their services but instead asks for donations. As well as the Liberty Tea Rooms, the Community Hub section of the charity offers free debt counselling services, money management courses and life skills courses in partnership with Christians Against Poverty. The venue is also a foodbank distribution point, working in partnership with the local Trussell Trust foodbank.

With Christmas only around the corner and the cost-of-living crisis continuing to impact many lives, the money and life skills courses are free to residents. The charity is running a Money Management course in December and more courses are planned in the New Year (dates to be announced). These courses help people to manage their money better and reduce the need for debt services.

Continuing to support local residents in the community this Christmas, the charity is also providing 35 beautiful hampers to those families who need it most. Working in partnership with DENS, the local homeless charity, Liberty Tea Rooms and Community Hub are also distributing fifteen Christmas dinner food hampers on Christmas Eve to other families in the community.

To find out more about Liberty Tea Rooms and the support services available, please visit www.libertytearooms.co.uk.

Find out more about Amey’s sustainable procurement commitments, here: www.amey.co.uk/esg-and-sustainability/.