Business in Reading - Enterprise Car Hire Reading

ENTERPRISE CAR HIRE TEAM LEAVE CAR AT HOME
TO SLEEP ROUGH FOR HOMELESS

In April this year local charity Reading Single Homeless Project (RSHP) challenged the town to sleep rough for the night to raise much needed funds for their work housing homeless people. This year’s event at the Madjeski Stadium was supported by a team of 19 people from Enterprise Car Hire Reading. Between them they raised a whopping £2,716.58 in sponsorship. Enterprise has been keen supporters of the charity in the past when a team decorated one of the charity’s properties.

Enterprise Car Hire is a global concern with its corporate HQ in America and with retail outlets all over Europe. In the UK Reading was the first base for Enterprise Car Hire UK. James Martin, Diversity Team Chairman explained ‘… Across the UK Enterprise still maintains the approach and feel of a small business, despite its increased corporate visibility.’ With regard to the Sleep Out, James said it proved quite a tough challenge. He said it made his team realize how hard it is when somebody is forced to sleep out on the streets just for one night.

It has been argued that affluent, well-fed, well-housed people are only playing at being homeless when they sign up for the Sleep Out but love it or hate it, the Sleep Out has proved an enduring and popular event that is helping the charity to raise much needed funds, and has served as a great team building exercise at the same time.

At least 260,000 people in England live on the street, in hostels or in temporary accommodation. A further 560,000 households live in overcrowded accommodation. The problem is not just a lack of bricks and mortar. Homelessness is often a symptom of underlying social problems, including family breakdown, poor mental and physical health, drug abuse, low skills, unemployment and poverty. Living on the street or in a hostel tends to be the last resort for people who have slipped through the net of other services. These are some of the most vulnerable and damaged people in Britain.

RSHP started life as a soup kitchen in 1979 and now has 94 beds in 16 different properties varying from small blocks of individual flats to shared hosing. The charity works with nearly 140 service users and have 27 full or part time staff. Our mission is to house and support and empowers vulnerable people to transform their lives and fulfil their potential. RSHP can act as a stepping stone for homeless people to reorganise and resettle themselves and then move forward and achieve the goals they set for themselves.

For more information about RSHP or about next year’s Big Sleep Out contact Lisa Uren on 0118 950 7656 or email lisa.uren@rshp.co.uk address The Stables, 1A Merchants Place, Reading RG1 1DT www.rshp.co.uk

For more information about Enterprise Car Hire Enterprise Rent-a-Car, 120 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 7NL Telephone: 0118 959 4444