Milton Keynes homelessness charity calls for town's help to win £5k prize

Milton Keynes citizens are being urged to back a homelessness charity's chase for £5,000

The Bus Shelter MK has called on the residents to back its bid to win the top prize in a nationwide competition run by Selco builders warehouse.

The charity is one of 12 finalists from around the UK going before a public vote in the Selco Stars competition, which attracted hundreds of entries.

Selco, which has a branch in Milton Keynes on Denbigh Road, has organised the competition, designed to support charities and community groups in their Covid-19 recovery.

A team of Selco judges selected a dozen causes to receive £500 worth of building materials and now the shortlisted groups will be aiming to top a vote and land a cash windfall of £5,000.

A second prize of £1,250 is also available to mark Selco’s 125th anniversary.

You can vote for The Bus Shelter MK here.

The charity's spokesman Pam Williams said: “We offer a route out of homelessness for people sleeping on the streets of Milton Keynes and have provided a temporary home to more than 90 people since opening in March 2018.

“We were previously based in a converted double decker bus in a car park but the charity now has a long term home following our renovations to a former landscaping depot. Winning £5,000 would be huge boost for us and enable us to help more people rebuild their lives.”

Carine Jessamine, marketing director at Selco, said: “We were inundated with applicants from a host of good causes with outstanding credentials, so The Bus Shelter MK have done extremely well to be shortlisted."

She added: “It does excellent work in the community and hopefully the whole of Milton Keynes will get behind the charity in its quest to win an amount of money which would make a huge difference to the work it does.”