CarShop Express Leicester pledges long-term support of local charity fighting homelessness in the city

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 9 November 2021

CarShop Express Leicester, the used car store on Blackbird Road that heralds an easier and faster way of buying your perfect car, has announced its partnership with local charity, Help the Homeless Leicester.

The first-of-its-kind store opened at the start of May and is a completely new concept for the leading used car brand. Unlike CarShop’s eleven other stores across the UK – which each boast huge showrooms and forecourts containing hundreds of makes and models – CarShop Express Leicester allows the modern car buyer to browse or buy online, have their favourite delivered to the store and can then pop in at a time that suits them to test-drive or collect their vehicle.

Now, as part of CarShop’s commitment to being ‘the home of good carma’, the store has promised to give back to the local Leicestershire community by supporting Help the Homeless Leicester with the excellent work it does to transform the lives of those sleeping rough with the overall aim of completely eradicating homelessness in the city.

Founded by Arif Voraji in 2014, the grassroots charity offers a range of support and services to enhance the lives and improve the health of homeless people in Leicester. This ranges from a weekly meal, where anyone in need can pop down for a wholesome and healthy meal, to conducting outreach to attend to rough sleepers on the streets and finding short-term and long-term accommodation solutions in partnership with Leicester City Council.

Further support and services include offering emergency food parcels at its HQ, delivering food items to those who are unable to purchase basic essentials, as well as being one of the few charities that give out basic mobile phones, which includes top-ups to relieve social isolation and make sure people are contactable and can reach the relevant services. They also run sessions to help equip people with the skills and know-how they need to reintegrate back into society once appropriate accommodation has been sourced, such as budgeting, cooking and CV writing.

Michele Williams, Branch Manager at CarShop Express Leicester said:

“I’ve seen first-hand just how easy it is for someone to lose their home and end up in a situation where they’re forced to sleep rough. This happened to someone I worked with before I joined CarShop, following the breakdown of their marriage, and I’ll never forget the realisation of how quickly the tables can turn.

“Fortunately, they were supported by a charity to get back on their feet and now, in fact, are a brilliant colleague of mine at CarShop but I know that without that charity’s help, things might not have turned out so well.

“That’s how I know just how invaluable the material and emotional support provided by homelessness charities is, and Help the Homeless Leicester is no different. In fact, when speaking to the rest of my team here at CarShop Express Leicester, everyone already knew of their fantastic work in the community – especially during the pandemic when those who are homeless are hit extra hard, so it made supporting the charity an easy decision.”

The store will be doing this through its ‘pink coin’ scheme, which is all part of the CarShop Cares programme. This means that every customer who buys a car from the store will be given a pink coin that represents £1. They can choose to donate this to CarShop’s national charity – Global Make Some Noise – or Help the Homeless Leicester. This money is then sent to Help the Homeless at the end of every month, to help it continue to provide its crucially important services.

Arif Voraji, founder of Help the Homeless Leicester, said:

“We’re so happy that CarShop Express Leicester has chosen us as their local charity. We wouldn’t be able to do the work that we do without the help of all our kind sponsors and donators.

“The store’s colleagues are so keen to help us in any way that they can –they’re already working to collect any clothing items for us and then plan to donate more hats and gloves as the months begin to get colder.”

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