A record number of people attended a summer fun day for a Worcestershire-based homeless charity in Redditch.

Maggs Day Centre, which has several bases across the county, hosted a barbecue fun session at its Redditch Harm Reduction drop-in, which runs every Thursday at Redditch Baptist Church.

The event was organised by national media firm Alight Media as part of its corporate volunteering initiative.


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Ros Hill, regional manager at the company, said: "Our organisation allows each team time to volunteer at a local charity as part of our CSR policy.

"We approached Maggs and got in touch with Melissa, who pitched to us the idea of hosting an event at their Redditch drop-in, and we immediately knew it was something we wanted to be a part of.

"The day was incredible, but we wanted to highlight the conversations our team had with people and the things they learnt about them, which gave them a greater understanding of what people are facing and a greater appreciation of what they have personally."

The drop-in centre, which offers clean works, Naloxone provision and training, BBV testing, and a safe space to discuss alcohol and substance use, saw a record-breaking attendance of 25 people.

Lauren Ebeling, harm reduction worker at Maggs, said: "This July, we celebrated one year of the Redditch Harm Reduction drop-in.

"It was so nice to be able to celebrate the service users and the Redditch community with a BBQ on Thursday and I wanted to say a massive thank you to Alight Media for volunteering and providing the service users with great food and activities.

"Over the last year, we have seen the harm reduction drop-in become a staple to the community with around 12-13 service users accessing the service each week.

"Still, yesterday we had a record-breaking 25 attendees.

"I cannot express just how happy this made me."