Happy Birthday to Lofty Heights CIC!!
This month Lofty Heights CIC is proud to be celebrating 10 Years. This is a huge milestone for any business but for a non-profit social enterprise, community interest company it is spectacular.
We have much to look back on, but we can now say that we have so much to look forward to, even in these dark days.
Let me tell you how we celebrated out first decade, out of the blue we received a call from our very first customer. Back in 2012 it was a huge deal to book in our very first customer, we were supported by Radio Suffolk, who reported on (what we thought at the time) a huge loft clearance. Ten years later Mr and Mrs Freiyer called us again to seek some help in their home and garden.
We could not think of a better way to celebrate our birthday, so we came and took a look and offered a day’s work for no cost to the Freiyers. And we had a whale of a time! Take a look at what we got up to:
Meet the new face of Lofty Heights, Garry Mills
It’s still hard to believe that five months have passed already since taking on the role of CEO, time certainly flies when you’re having fun and a what a pleasure it is to work with such a hardworking, selfless, and dedicated team.
Over the last ten years Lofty Heights has worked tirelessly to become the respected provider of choice for many support agencies, and despite the change in leadership, our core focus remains unchanged, and I am very excited about what opportunities lie in front of us as we continue to further develop and grow our services.
We remain fully committed to supporting those most in need, even more pressing now as people are starting to really feel the pinch of rising cost pressures like never before.
So far this year we have secured additional funding to support carers and continue to work closely with Suffolk Family Carers to identify further gaps in provision that we can address together.
Our funding partnership with UK Power Networks and ongoing discussions with local energy contractors has highlighted serious problems which are delaying the contractors installing energy saving measures, something I’m proud to say, Lofty Heights has been able to provide a solution for, which in turn will help customers save money on their energy bills and access energy grants quicker.
We have also been working closely with Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk Community Foundation this month to secure funding that will help people facing extreme hardship and have fallen between the cracks of statutory services, unable to access vital funding needed to make their homes safer to live in.
Our Hoarding Relapse Prevention Program which launched in May has also been welcomed and Lofty Heights is now able to offer a 1-2-1 counselling service to those customers who are really struggling to break the cycle of hoarding. The pilot scheme will run for one year and we are already starting to see positive benefits and something we hope to be able to facilitate long after the pilot scheme has ended.
And finally, after a successful recruitment campaign in May we have now been able to increase our decluttering team and employ three new Decluttering Operatives, Jamie, Frankie and Kirsty. This not only allows Lofty Heights to meet the growing demand for our service, but also feeds into our aspirations to expand our services beyond Suffolk over the coming year.
Garry Mills, CEO
