Fundraising for veteran support hub gets boost from Aster Group

Housing association Aster Group has matched the funds raised by one of its colleagues for the Veteran’s Hub in Weymouth, which delivers essential support for ex-service personnel in the community.

The Veteran’s Hub provides a safe and secure location for veterans and their families to meet and provide peer-to-peer support for each other in a non-clinical environment.

It also offers other facilities such as a community allotment, a fully fitted gym, wellness rooms, drop-in clinics and advice services.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the hub has been forced to rethink its services. Each week it is now delivering over 500 hot meals to those in need, making up to 100 welfare calls to veterans and dropping off essential supplies to 50 households in Weymouth, Portland and Portersham at no extra cost.

Debbie Ferris, letting coordinator for Aster, organised a socially distanced VE Day street party in Weymouth, to help raise essential funds for the Veteran’s Hub.

Debbie said: “The Veteran’s Hub offers an invaluable service to the community. In the past it has helped ex-servicemen and women when they move into our houses by providing furniture, decorating and offering a helping hand.”

Residents donated £95 to the cause, which Aster has match-funded, bringing the total to £190.

Andy Price, Veteran’s Hub founder and director, said: “Some of the families we support are among the most disadvantaged in Dorset. Donations like the one coordinated by Debbie are enormously important in helping to make a difference.”

Aster owns and manages more than 9,000 properties in Dorset, offering housing options to those who need it most.