Arsenal Football Club has continued its support for Centrepoint, the leading youth homelessness charity, by volunteering player and staff time to contribute to the refurbishment of a state-of-the-art health and wellbeing facility for homeless young people in Soho.
The facility's refurbishment is funded by the club through money raised throughout the 2010/11 season, as part of the 'Be a Gooner. Be a Giver' campaign. This saw supporters, players and staff raising over £500,000 to refurbish the building, which will provide services to help homeless young people get back on their feet and back into society.
Main contractor 8build, have been refurbishing the 4,000 sq ft building as their 'giving back project 2014' at zero profit, by stripping out and making structural modifications to create a space which includes new counselling rooms, a recording studio, a main hall and kitchen facilities as well as some much-needed office space for the Centrepoint health and wellbeing team.
"It's amazing to be a part of something special - not just the fundraising, but actually helping towards making the building a place where homeless young people can come to help themselves to a better future"
Wojciech Szczesny
Arsenal goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, joined staff representing a number of club departments, who helped paint the exterior walls of the building in Dean Street, Soho.
Speaking ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley, Wojciech said: "It's amazing to be a part of something special - not just the fundraising, but actually helping towards making the building a place where homeless young people can come to help themselves to a better future."
Nick Connolly, head of corporate development at Centrepoint, added: "We can't thank Arsenal and the club's fans, players and staff enough for all they've done to help us create a state-of-the-art health and wellbeing centre on Dean Street.
"Tackling youth homelessness is about more than providing a safe place to call home: a third of the young people we work with have a mental health problem, many have physical ailments as a direct result of homelessness and many more simply do not know what it means to live healthily.
"Once the centre is complete, our counsellors and healthy-living advisers will have the purpose-built facilities they need to help homeless young people at Centrepoint turn their lives around."
For more information on Arsenal's charitable giving, visit arsenal.com/thearsenalfoundation or follow @AFC_Foundation on Twitter
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