Last year, Aspire supported over 2,000 vulnerable people facing severe challenges such as homelessness, addiction or poor mental wellbeing to move closer to employment and secure housing. This is the highest number of people we’ve ever supported and marks a significant increase in the level of need for our vital work. You can find out how to get involved in helping us transform lives here.

Behind each of these 2,000 people are remarkable stories of courage and determination as the people we support achieve lasting, positive change. We’d like to take this opportunity to share some of the exceptional achievements that these people have made, thanks to support from Aspire.

Natalie’s story

“Thanks to the support from Aspire and Taylor Wimpey’s job offer, I never need to look back again. Without this chance, I can be sure I would have turned back to drugs.”

Natalie has overcome significant personal challenges with dedicated employment support from Aspire and our partner Taylor Wimpey. Following a period in addiction rehabilitation, Natalie came to Aspire and wanted to find a job in construction. We were able to support Natalie to build up her confidence, skills, training and experience through Aspire’s employment programme. We then got in touch with Taylor Wimpey, who generously funded Natalie’s forklift training and licence and offered her a job once she achieved this. The team at Taylor Wimpey even fundraised to help provide furniture for Natalie’s home. Thanks to these opportunities and to Natalie’s own resilience and determination, she is thriving in her new role and is over the moon to be able to get her life back on track.

You can read more inspirational case studies here to see how much difference our life-changing work makes to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Every day, Aspire helps people to achieve remarkable and lasting change. We’d like to say congratulations to our amazing clients:

• Carro who is now a Cafe Manager at Hogacre Cafe
• Kyle who has started at Interserve as a car park attendant
• Alex who is working in a full-time IT programming position with Global Initiative
• Dave and Matt for all their volunteering efforts on Aspire’s back room renovation
• Laura who is volunteering at Aspire as our Receptionist/Administrator
• Marie who is now working as a cleaner at Aspire
• Michael who is working full time as an Industrial Cleaner in Bicester
• Barry who is on the recruitment panel for Mind and volunteering at Methodist Church in Witney
• Shane who has moved into Mind housing in Banbury
• Manuela who has been offered a job with the NHS recruitment team
• SF who has been offered a job with YIS
• PZ who has moved into temporary housing and is starting to apply for work

We couldn’t continue to achieve this level of social impact without the generous support of our local community. If you would like to find out more about making a donation to Aspire or getting involved with our life-changing work, please call Helen on 01865 204450 or email helen@aspireoxford.co.uk

Find out more about Aspire by visiting aspireoxford.co.uk or on our Univ in the Community page.

Published: 4 July 2019

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