Extreme makeover: volunteers help to clear our resident’s home
Following a welfare check after the fire incident in Abbey View in July, we found that one of our tenants was struggling to maintain her home due to mobility issues.
After moving into the high-rise block in December, boxes and rubbish had begun mounting up in Lauren’s flat, and it became hard to break the cycle. This not only created a fire safety hazard, but poor living conditions for her and her cat, Riley.
We want all our residents to live in a comfortable home that they can take pride in, and so her Housing Officer offered her help, and Lauren gratefully said yes.
Each member of Watford Community Housing gets two volunteering days a year to support our communities in a way that suits them, taking the time out of their usual working day to improve the lives of our residents. On Monday 22 September, a group of staff volunteered to clear and clean her home.
When asked how she felt about the day, Lauren said:
“I found it overwhelming but necessary – I had felt ashamed having my mum see the rubbish that had built up, she even called it a ‘tinderbox’.
“I am so pleased with what the team did – before I had to literally climb over boxes to get from one room to another, and even though the floor is now clear I do still find myself walking like that!
“I find it hard asking for and accepting help, so it means a lot that someone would do this for me.”