We scrapped our Christmas party to help the homeless

22nd December 2021

Bryony Copnall

easyNetworks are delighted to announce our new partnership with Foodbank/kitchen and homeless support centre, The LifeHouse in Portsmouth.

We are donating all our staff Christmas party budget to help refurbish the dining area at the drop-in centre, just in time for Christmas!

After news reports of a new COVID variant, our management team had concerns for staff safety, so they made the sensible decision to cancel the Christmas party.

While our colleagues will miss out on some bubbly and mince pies, the decision became the catalyst for a programme of community support. Our Concerns for our workforce and customers safety, paired with our desire to do good within the community meant that donating our money to The LifeHouse was the perfect way to celebrate Christmas this year.

What is The LifeHouse?

The LifeHouse, is a charity based in Southsea for the homeless and those living in food poverty in the city of Portsmouth; Manager, Mike Morell, and a fantastic team of volunteers run it.

It provides food parcels, offers support and hot meals a couple of times a week. All services are provided on a no questions asked basis – clients could be homeless, under-housed or struggling on benefits. Regardless of their current situation, they can receive the support that they desperately need at Christmas and beyond.

The LifeHouse is also helping COVID positive individuals find temporary accommodation to properly isolate, helping to reduce the spread of the virus within the homeless community.

The facilities and supplies they provide:

clothes, shoes, sleeping bags, other equipment, toiletries, coats, socks, underwear, etc.
weekly, free counselling by appointment Wednesday afternoons
help and encouragement with benefits, letters, and official documents
help with CVs and printing
first aider always on site
hairdressing most weeks
regular footcare on Wednesday mornings once a month
listening time over a hot drink and prayer for spiritual concerns and well being
assistance finding accommodation for those who need to isolate

What does this partnership mean for easyNetworks and The LifeHouse?

The LifeHouse is completely funded by partnerships and other local organisations. Without donations like ours and help from their volunteers, they wouldn’t be able to continue.

While we understand that a one-off donation is great, we wanted to go that extra mile. So, our Operations Director made the decision to commit to supporting the charity by allowing staff to volunteer within working hours.

Our Digital Marketing Executive, Bryony Copnall has been volunteering with Mike and the team at the LifeHouse for the past couple of weeks, and this is what she had to say about the partnership:

“easyNetworks is well known in Portsmouth and nationally for providing reliable communications infrastructure for businesses, so we are excited to be working with The Lifehouse to improve their own infrastructure to support their services to clients. Helping at The LifeHouse is great for staff, increases our presence within the community and shows the company’s determination to invest in the city.”

Mike Morell, The LifeHouse Manager, celebrates establishing the partnership with easyNetworks:

“Together, we will work with those who are sleeping rough, under-housed or find themselves isolated in our community. We will look to provide more and better food and a wider range of support services for those so disadvantaged. easyNetworks is sponsoring an extra fridge-freezer and helping LifeHouse build an improved servery counter in our main dining room.”

Get involved!

At easyNetworks, we’re currently collecting food to donate to The Life House for Christmas.

If you would like to get involved and help us, here is a list of products that will help them provide 175+ hot meals a week and 140+ food parcels to those who need it the most: