AW Hainsworth Partner with Zarach to End Bed Poverty

AW Hainsworth are proud to announce our partnership with Zarach, a charity committed to helping children and families living in poverty. Founded and based in the Leeds area, their aim is to provide children with a bed and nutritious meals.

Their purpose:

“Thousands of children in Leeds are going to sleep hungry and cold; without a proper bed of their own. Poverty is a real problem that has a significant effect on a child’s education. By providing something to eat and a good night’s sleep, we can give every child a chance to learn and succeed at school.”

Amanda, Casey and Jane stood holding the Zarach Dream Maker certificate

L-R: Casey, Amanda and Jane with our Zarach Dream Maker Certificate

AW Hainsworth have committed to being a Dream Maker, which includes a monetary contribution to fund a Zarach Bed Bundle, costing £150, every month over 3 years. We also have a series of fundraising activities planned, which currently include a pyjama drive and an employee car wash. Through the donation of our money, time and products we hope to help Zarach achieve their aim of ending bed poverty.

The story of how Zarach was founded is very moving. Deputy Head Teacher Bex Wilson had a student in her Primary School class who was unusually disruptive. She asked if he was feeling tired, and he told her he was sleeping on a bed bug infested sofa cushion. There were no community organisations set up to solve the issue of bed poverty, so Zarach was formed.

Since its inception, Zarach has grown beyond it’s original purpose of providing a bed, and also runs foodbanks, holiday meal clubs and provides school uniform. It is a cause that the AW Hainsworth team feel passionate about:

“We feel incredibly proud to support a local charity with such an important cause,” said Amanda McLaren, Managing Director. “We talked about the issue of bed poverty at our employee forum, and we felt as though we could make a real difference in our local community. AW Hainsworth are committed to supporting Zarach across a range of initiatives in the next 3 years and applaud the excellent work they do.”

Jill and Mark stand at a table with the pyjamas we have collected for Zarach

L-R: Mark and Jill with our Pyjama Drive collection

If you would like to learn more about Zarach, you can visit their website zarach.org or watch this interview with the founder Bex Wilson: https://fb.watch/eHuyOaOkiR/.

Zarach commented on our partnership:

“Zarach is delighted to have AW Hainsworth support our Every Head a Bed campaign. We believe that well rested and well-fed children are increasingly ready to learn. Engaging in education gives children the tools they need to break the cycle of poverty, help their families out of crisis and improve the breadth of opportunities available to their future selves.

AW Hainsworth’s decision to become a Zarach Dream Maker will support us long-term in our commitment to help ensure all children have somewhere safe and comfortable to sleep with good, consistent access to healthy and nutritious food in order for them to succeed at school. We look forward to building a successful partnership with AW Hainsworth, working together to change the lives of families living in poverty”.