Appeal to secure future of Wolverhampton welfare centre

A fundraising campaign has been launched to help secure the future of a community advice and support centre.

Chair Rob Marris and other members of Whitmore Reans Resource Centre, which has put out a public appeal for donations to help the centre continue to run after the pandemic seriously affected the finances of the centre. Pictured front left, director Davinder Singh Dhesi, founder Surjit Singh Khalsa and treasurer and director Bal Aujla

Whitmore Reans Welfare Centre (WRWC) has been delivering advice and support services to the people of Whitmore Reans and other areas of Wolverhampton since 2004.

The centre is run, and services provided, completely by volunteers, with no external funding and a reliance on donations to cover the day to day running of the centre, with people making donations as they visit the centre.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the centre has remained closed, and while it has been able to provide remote services, it has not been able to take in donations from users of the centre.

This has led to the centre suffering a significant reduction in funds and the launch of a fundraising campaign to help funds to help the centre to continue running.

Former Wolverhampton South West MP Rob Marris sits as chair of the centre and explained why the centre played such a big role in the community.

He said: "The centre is in the heart of the community, giving out free advice and signposting to anyone who comes through the door.

"It's unique in that it is entirely run by volunteers, with no paid staff, and we are very well known in what is a tight knit community, with people having grown up knowing we're here.

"One of the things that makes us unique is our core value of empowering people, where we will help people to do something and ensure they will be able to do it for themselves in the future."

The centre needs to cover rent of £3,600, as well as telephones, heating, lighting and electricity, minimal maintenance and repair of equipment.

Mr Marris said the centre was currently teetering on the edge financially and said making a donation to the centre would help safeguard it for the future.

He said: "It helps to have a community-based service in Wolverhampton such as Whitmore Reans Welfare Centre and it helps to have a diversity of preferred providers.

"The centre is seen as a community organisation, physically and socially accessible to all and we want to keep going to assist people."

To find out more and to make a donation, go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/whitmorereanswelfarecentre