Donation from funeral directors supports local families

A firm of funeral directors which has a base in Erewash, has donated five computers to Derbyshire's specialist child exploitation charity Safe and Sound which will be passed onto local families in need.

The computers have been wiped clean of content and will be protected with high privacy settings before being given to young people who at present do not have access to computers to support their education.

Safe and Sound, which carries some of its work out in the Erewash Borough, also took the opportunity to present Wathall’s with a trophy and specially designed poster to celebrate their nomination as Supporter of the Year which was decided by young people involved with the charity.

Helen Wathall MBE is the fifth generation of her family to run the firm which has a branch in Borrowash village. She said: “We were proud to be one of the companies who supported Safe and Sound during this, their 20th anniversary year.  Therefore, when we replaced some of the office computers – we contacted Safe and Sound to see if they could be put to good use.

“I hope that they will be useful to young people who are still facing a challenging time to catch up with their education which was so badly disrupted during the pandemic and will take the pressure of families who are struggling with the cost of living at this expensive time of year.”

Tracy Harrison, CEO of Safe and Sound, added: “Wathall’s have been an amazing support to our charity for many years and we are delighted to be able to pass on these computers to families who really need them.

“In these challenging times, donations such as this show what can be achieved to improve people’s lives by businesses recycling unwanted equipment to charities so that they can be given to those who need them.”

Safe and Sound also have an ongoing recycling programme for unwanted mobile phones and tablets which are recycled and a proportion of the profits donated back to the charity.

For more information about this and other ways to support Safe and Sound, please visit this link.

Picture shows, from left: Safe and Sound fundraising and marketing officer, Lucy Dey and CEO Tracy Harrison with Wathall’s managing director Helen Wathall and business development manager Bec Wathall.