£10,000 raised for Cambridge-based homeless charity

After selecting the Cambridge Cyrenians as our Cambridge office charity in 2018, we have been tirelessly fundraising over the past 12 months in a variety of ways including bake sales, dress down days, sweepstakes on various sporting events and ‘festive weeks’ which featured charity bingo, Easter egg hunts and throwing sponges at the partners.

We also held a rowing challenge which pitted local businesses against each other to see who could row 2000km in the quickest time.

Alongside the fundraising efforts, a clothing collection was organised to donate smart clothes to be used for job interviews which will also help residents regain financial independence.

Cambridge Cyrenians provide accommodation for over 100 homeless people in the city and have a range of services to provide specialised support to their residents. The money raised by Mills & Reeve has contributed towards a number of projects including:

• The Allotment Project which allows access to a place of learning and conversation for many homeless people
• The Supported Housing Project which furnishes and develops homes for residents as well as providing free counselling which, in 2019, helped 15 people to move into their own tenancies from the streets
• An Elderly Project Worker who works with residents to reduce symptoms of isolation experienced by elderly members of the community

Shanice Jones, project worker at Cambridge Cyrenians said: “Having Mills & Reeve so involved in what we do and supporting our cause has been great. We are extremely thankful for their work so far and are excited to carry on working together this year.”

Jonathan Greenwood, partner at Mills & Reeve, said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to all my colleagues who have taken part in, organised events for and donated money to Cambridge Cyrenians over the past year. I look forward to seeing the variety of ways we raise more money for the important work the Cyrenians do this year!”

Confident that Cambridge Cyrenians are doing valuable and important work in their community, our Cambridge office will continue their support for the charity throughout 2020.