Military Charity aid from East Midlands Construction Company

As part of its work with insurance claims, leading East Midlands construction company Gelder Group volunteered to assist a home owner who wanted to donate goods to the charity Hull 4 Heroes.

 When Mr and Mrs Hewett were unfortunate enough to have a leaking water pipe below the floor of their home, Gelder Group, which has a highly experienced insurance, repair and renovation division, were appointed to handle the couple’s insurance claim.

The firm replaced the flooring and redecorated and re-installed the kitchen units at the home in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.

During the restorative works, Mr and Mrs Hewett decided to purchase a number of new items for their home and decided to donate the items they no longer needed, including a fridge freezer, microwave, television, curtains and blinds, to Hull 4 Heroes.

Hull 4 Heroes provides housing and lifelong support to military veterans who find themselves struggling after serving in the British Armed Forces. That help can come in the form of finding suitable accommodation and furnishings for a homeless veteran or a renovation to an existing property which isn’t fit for purpose. The charity will use Mr and Mrs Hewett’s donated goods for future Hull 4 Heroes projects.

The 154-strong insurance team at Gelder Group, which handles around 6,000 insurance claims a year, thought this was a fantastic idea and volunteered to assist Mr and Mrs Hewett with the transportation of the items to the Hull 4 Heroes storage unit.

Chris Kent, branch manager of the insurance department at Gelder Group, said: “When we heard that Mr and Mrs Hewett wanted to donate their goods to Hull 4 Heroes we thought it was such a lovely idea, especially as the couple already had a lot on their plate with the leak in their home, so we were keen to get involved and transport the items for them.

“We’re proud to have successfully restored Mr and Mrs Hewett’s home to its former glory and to have been able to support them with the transportation of goods to this very worthy and important cause.”

Mrs Smith, a neighbour of Mr and Mrs Hewett, also got involved and donated an oven, outdoor furniture and physio equipment, which Gelder Group also transported to the storage unit on her behalf.

Mrs Smith, said: “We were very grateful to Steve Gelder and his staff at Gelder Group for enabling us to donate our goods to charity. It has been a difficult time for Mr and Mrs Hewett due to Mr Hewett’s disabilities and we were pleased that good could result from the situation.”

Paul Matson, from Hull 4 Heroes, said: “We can’t do any of the good work we do without the amazing support of the lovely volunteers and the fantastic businesses we’ve been lucky enough to be introduced to.

“We as a team can’t thank you all enough for the goods kindly donated and then transporting them to us, the items will go into future Hull 4 Heroes projects helping veterans in need. We are ‘looking after our own’ thank you for helping us help them.”

Gelder Group is a multi-award-winning construction company based in Lincoln which works across a range of sectors including education, health, retail, insurance, leisure, commercial and residential building projects.

Photo: Chris Kent and John Rowley from the Gelder Group Insurance Repair and Renovation Division with Mrs Hewett.