UK Lingerie firm Bluebella has launched a campaign to donate £1 from every purchase to fund career training for homeless women. The campaign will run on Bluebella’s website throughout March 2020 to mark International Women’s Month and donations from the campaign will go to Beam.org, a social enterprise that crowdfunds job training for homeless people and supports them into stable, paid work. Since launching in 2017, Beam has helped more than 85 homeless women to train up and get into work. So far, every single campaign has fully funded, with 100% of donations going directly towards supporting a homeless person
Bluebella Founder and CEO Emily Bendell said: “The best way to help women out of poverty and homelessness is to help them train for a sustainable career so that they can help themselves. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Beam and we are donating £1 from every sale on the Bluebella website during International Women’s Month, and we look forward to watching the women we support achieve their goals.”
There are several homeless women on Beam’s website hoping to raise money to train in a new career. For example, Deborah is a single mother of three, who is at severe risk of homelessness. Deborah wants to take a course as a teaching assistant so she can provide more for her family. She is currently struggling in temporary accommodation, but the Council benefit payments are soon to be cut and she’s worried that she won’t have enough money to pay her rent. She is hoping to raise £2,898 to gain a Level 3 Diploma for Special Educational Needs and she has already raised £2,273 of that total.
Another hopeful is Danielle, a single mother of two young children, who wants to train to be a beauty therapist. Danielle lives in social housing but is at severe risk of homelessness because she fell into rent arrears after her benefits were stopped a few years ago. Danielle said: “Being in debt constantly puts your housing at risk. I just have to take it month by month. It’s so stressful, not knowing if I’ll have enough to make the repayments. That’s a big fear, that I’ll lose my housing and me and my children will end up homeless. I want to get my qualifications and get work so I can create a better life for me and for them.” Danielle has so far raised £3,516 of a total of £4,035 that is needed to train for a Level 2 Diploma in Beauty Therapy.
