Your Community

Measuring our social impact

Many of the activities, schemes and projects in our communities were impacted by the pandemic in 2020-21.

We had to find new ways to keep them going while keeping everyone safe. With fewer visits to our communities, it wasn’t as easy for us to spot people who needed our help.

But we were determined to help and find ways to keep people connected to support that can make a real difference in their lives. Here's a quick look at some of the ways we reached out during 2020-21:

Retirement Living

We created safe ways to keep up the coffee mornings, gardening clubs, wellbeing calls, digital inclusion sessions and more to help our older customers.

Brenda, from Norfolk House, said: "The staff were very good, they rang you up every morning to see if you wanted any help. We had a laugh and a joke. Really brilliant they were."

We Are Digital

This year we helped 95 people become more digitally savvy; particulalrly handy during lockdown where meeting virtually was the only way to stay in touch.

Single mum Valerie, who needed to brush up on her digital skills to boost her career prospects, said: "I would definitely recommend this training, I've found it to be really helpful in furthering my career. I hadn't done any computer training for a long time but this was a breath of fresh air."

Rough Sleepers to Secure Housing

We helped 57 people to get off the streets and into stable, secure homes in 2020-21 so that they could start to rebuild their lives.

Funding and support

As well as supporting customers through our own community investment scheme, we worked with support agencies such as the Longleigh Foundation and Clean Slate to help customers meet unexpected costs and get some expert advice to help them out of a financial tight spot.

"Stonewater gave me a cash payment in my bank to help me with essential items for my journey to begin, I am so thankful." - SK, Stonewater customer.

Veterans self-build

We helped nine UK military veterans get their lives back on track and learn new skills by getting them involved in building their own houses. Having found life difficult after their military careers, our veterans have been able to gain valuable experience and put a roof over their own head with the support of our team and our contractors.

“I found a sense of belonging and purpose. Everyday we were learning something new. Initially we were just going to be working on the houses but we ended up cleaning up the community garden. It’s not just your own house you’re building. You get to be a part of something bigger.” - Gavin Owens.