Big Help Group Opens Hope House
Liverpool-based multi-award-winning charitable group and social housing provider the Big Help Group made Hope House on Boaler Street their new premises today, with a ribbon cutting ceremony performed by Lord Mayor of Liverpool The Rt. Worshipful Cllr Mary Rasmussen.
The Lord Mayor was joined by representatives from local and national Government, friend of the Big Help Group and Mayor of Knowsley Cllr Frank Walsh, and Patron Stephen Twigg, General Secretary of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, to declare the new premises officially open. The ceremony closed with a cheque presentation to community groups receiving funds from the Big Help Community Impact Fund. Announcing the new premises formally open, Cllr Rasmussen said: ”As Lord Mayor of Liverpool, I am delighted to be here today to officially mark the next stage in the evolution of this remarkable organisation. The growth of the Big Help Group from local Foodbank to leading national charity is an inspiration to us all of what can be achieved when people with a true passion for social justice come together to not just help people to overcome societal barriers, but to actually knock those barriers down and build a better city, and a better country, for everyone. It is my great honour and privilege to declare Hope House open today, and I wish all the team the very best in their future endeavours.”
Speaking after the ribbon-cutting, Peter Mitchell, CEO of the Big Help Group, said: ”Today formally marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Big Help Group and the projects it operates across the Liverpool City Region. The group started as Knowsley Foodbank 10 years ago, and to be here today leading an organisation that delivers multiple projects and has changed countless lives is a great privilege. The name of our offices, Hope House, sets out our vision to be a source of hope for people who feel that society has forgotten them, or simply does not care. Our message is this: we do care, we are here, and we will not rest until everyone in our community is free from poverty, in any and all of its forms.”
The Big Help Group has been operating from Boaler Street since May, bringing the groups’ housing, employability, debt management and welfare projects to Liverpool for the first time in the organisations’ history. The Big Help Groups’ other projects, Knowsley Foodbank, Big Help Trading and Community RePaint Knowsley, remain at Link Road depot in Huyton, meaning that the Big Help Group has a presence across the immediate city region.