St Petrocs, a charity combating homelessness in Cornwall, has received £1,000 in funding from Skipton Building Society, thanks to a nomination from SWIG Finance’s Business Manager Rachael Thomson.

Rachel, who has been a trustee of St Petrocs since 2020, was able to use her expertise in financial services to help secure this much-needed funding for the charity.

St Petrocs has been working to end homelessness in Cornwall for over 30 years. Alongside accommodation support, St Petrocs also offers advice through their resource centres where they also provide access to a range of facilities including showers and toilets, food, clothing, bedding, laundry and storage, and activities promoting health and well being.

Left to right: Jon Rawley (Skipton Building Society), Rachel Thomson (SWIG), Dave Brown (St Petrocs)

Of her successful nomination, Rachel said “I’m a trustee of St Petrocs so I have inside knowledge of the help the charity provides to those with housing needs in the county. Nobody should be homeless in Cornwall. I’m delighted my nomination to Skipton was successful and these funds will help the charity continue their work.”

Skipton Building Society has been making a difference through their Community Giving since 2019 and every year they make £1,000 donations to 40 worthy causes. Find out more here.

Dave Brown, St Petrocs communication manager, commented: “demand for housing in Cornwall has gone through the roof and the most vulnerable people locally have found it very hard to find suitable housing. We’re providing practical support to those living outside but we’re seeing the number of people facing rough sleeping increase. As we resettle people, we’re finding there’s more who come onto the streets behind them.

“Skipton supported us financially last year and, thanks to Rachel’s nomination, the building society has now donated further funds. I’m extremely grateful for this donation and it’ll be a massive help to the charity.”

Skipton’s south west business development manager Jon Rawley said: “as a building society we’ve been helping communities for over 160 years. Community Giving has been a great success. We invited financial intermediaries to nominate housing and homelessness charities and it’s so good to see south west charities benefitting.

“Rachel has been working with this charity for some time and works tirelessly to raise funds – she recently completed the Eden marathon to raise money for St Petrocs – and it was a pleasure to meet with Dave and Rachel to hand over this donation.”

SWIG Finance would like to congratulate Rachel for proactively supporting her local community. This is a great example of how SWIG Finance’s core values are embodied by the whole team and creating positive social impact is something that is very close to all of our hearts.

About SWIG Finance

SWIG Finance is the South West’s leading Community Development Financial Institution. We are passionate about bringing social and economic benefits to people and places in the South West.

We do this by providing support and finance to Start Ups and growing SMEs that can create and secure employment opportunities.

As the South West’s leading delivery partner for Start Up Loans UK, we can provide Start Up Loans from £500 – £25,000. For more information visit https://www.swigfinance.co.uk/start-up-loans/

We also have business loans from £25,001 to £250,000 available to South West SMEs who cannot access sufficient funding from their bank https://www.swigfinance.co.uk/business-loans/

If you would like to have an informal discussion about your funding requirements, get in touch with our friendly and professional team to find out how we can help: info@swigfinance.co.uk / 01872 227 930.