Banbury property firm donate hundreds of pounds from house sales to homeless youth charity

Fisher German, based on Noral Way, will donate £600 from house sales made in the villages of Shenington and Alkerton this year to the Banbury Young Homeless Project (BYHP).

The property sales firm will make the charitable donations on each house sale where their sales commission fee on the property is at least £3,750, with the donation deducted from this figure.

Fundraising manager at BYHP, Molly Billingsley, said the pledge made by Fisher German has come at the right time as they continue to see a rise in demand for their services.

She said: "Our mental health services have been in demand more than ever, with the top service being free counselling.

"Over the last two years, BYHP has supported between 400 to 500 young people, whereas in previous years we were supporting around 300.

"One of the key reasons for the rise is that when a young person reaches 18, they can no longer access the same mental health support they had previously been receiving as a child, and are expected to enter the wider world as an adult without the mental health tools they may desperately need to build a bright future for themselves and prevent any possibilities of becoming homeless.

"Since the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis, the need for mental health support has hit new heights, and our support services are needed more now than ever.

"We are of course reliant on donations to be able to continue meeting demand, so we are extremely grateful to Fisher German for their kind gesture, and any money donated will fund our counselling team to offer more hours of mental health support."

The charity has been supporting 13 to 25-year-olds in Banbury and North Oxfordshire who are at risk of becoming homeless since 1995, providing counselling, personal mentoring, and coaching to help people stay in education or become work-ready.

BYHP also provides a foodbank service to those it supports and their families in times of need, as well as confidential family mediation for relationship breakdowns.

Residential property expert at Fisher German’s Banbury office, Toby Harris, said: "As a firm, we are passionate about helping the community that we are part of, and we are proud to be supporting BYHP at a time when they need it the most.

"Fisher German has a strong ongoing track record of completing house sales in the sought-after locations of Shenington and Alkerton, and despite the difficult economic backdrop, buyer appetite has remained strong – so I am hoping to raise a significant sum for BYHP over the course of the year.

"We are hoping that anyone considering selling their property in Shenington or Alkerton will approach us so that we can further support such a worthwhile local charity that provide much-needed support to the younger members of the community."

For more information on the BYHP, visit byhp.org.uk/contact/ or call 01295 259 442.