Community-minded employees from Harwich Haven Authority (HHA) have chosen Home-Start Harwich as their Charity of the Year.

The charity, based in the Bathside area of Harwich, provides families with young children with practical and non-judgmental support when they need it most.

“We are proud that our employees continue to step up to support local charities,” says Melissa Wellings, ESG Director, Harwich Haven Authority.

“As a business we actively encourage, and support, everyone working here to give back to the community. We have also introduced a new volunteering policy that entitles employees to claim an additional day’s annual leave each year to volunteer with a charitable initiative that’s close to their heart.

“With no shareholders, and aligned to our trust port designation, we continue to reinvest our profits back into the Haven for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
   
Wendy Taylor, Manager, Home-Start Harwich reacted: ”I’m overwhelmed by the continued generosity of the everyone working at HHA. They are valued supporters of Home-Start and for the past three years HHA has generously funded our Bobbit’s Hole Forest School initiative. 

“We are certainly seeing a higher demand for our services in the Harwich area as more and more families struggle to navigate increasing challenges. The additional demand also impacts on our funding so any extra money we receive relieves some of the pressure we are under to do more. 

“Since the beginning of the year the team at HHA has already managed to raise over £1,300 by taking part in a charity football tournament and holding a cake sale, which is amazing! They have lots more fundraising initiatives planned over the course of this year and we’ll also be doing what we can to support their endeavours.”

The Charity of the Year initiative is now in its third year and in 2024 more than £5,000 was raised by HHA employees for the North Essex Support Trust (NEST), which is led by local Harwich resident, Les Nicoll.

Les Nicoll commented: “The donation we received from HHA last year meant that we could purchase 170 single beds, bedding and teddies for children who were either sleeping on floors or sharing a bed with their parents. Everyone at HHA should feel very proud that they made this happen.”