Community
We believe it is important to be an active part of the community so we support local charities in their work, as well as supporting carefully considered and vetted charities that work in other parts of the world.
If you are interested in helping us to support any of these very worthwhile charities, then please do get in touch with us about how we could do this together.
Telephone: 01243 542056
Email: admin@msbc.uk.com
Local Charities
Options Chichester and the Bognor Regis Food Bank: 2021
This year we have chosen to send monthly support to two incredibly important local charities.
Pregnancy Options Centre provides free, non-directive counselling and support to women and men facing unplanned pregnancy or struggling following a pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy, therapeutic termination or an abortion. Their sessions are client led and provide a safe environment for women, partners and family members to talk about their thoughts and emotions surrounding their circumstances. Also working in local schools and youth settings, they deliver educational sessions on healthy sex and relationships, sexual health and puberty, online safety and consent. They currently support 13 schools and colleges across the district, giving young people tools to resist peer pressure, value their self-respect and gain confidence, helping them to build a firm foundation for adult life. These values impact positively on their health, wellbeing and safety enabling them to make considered, responsible and well-timed decisions.
The Bognor Regis Food Bank, opened in 2012, is part of The Trussell Trust’s national network of foodbanks, working to combat hunger and poverty across the UK. 1 in 5 of the UK population live below the poverty line, and they believe that no one in our community should have to face going hungry. They provide 3 days nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. In 2020-21, the Trussell Trust provided 2,537,198 three-day emergency food supplies and support to UK people in crisis. Of these, 980,082 went to children.
We continually look to support individual local charities and initiatives and in the past have supported Lifecentre, Chestnut Tree House, The Sussex Snowdrop Trust, Positive Parenting and St James Centre, Birdham.
Further Afield
Living Waters, Tanzania
This Christian mission is located in the city of Mwanza, Tanzania, and Martin Sewell is a trustee of the UK charity. The Martin Sewell Building Company has been involved since an initial visit to Tanzania in 2004, when it took a team of eight builders to build a small bungalow. The experience was life-changing for us all.
Carolyn Philpot, who runs the mission, started teaching a few children on her veranda in 1999. That modest beginning has developed into a purpose-built school on the shores of Lake Victoria, educating around 430 children.
Our church, St. Mary’s in Walberton, caught the vision and asked the congregation to donate. A staggering £30,000 was raised which enabled a great deal of the second phase of the school to be built.
The school has become so successful (regularly coming top of the league tables in the Mwanza district) that a decision was made to build a secondary school for the children to continue to. In 2016 work began on that secondary school so that the children could continue to receive a high-quality education and not have to leave to go to poor public schools where much of what they had gained was lost.
January 2018 saw the first intake of secondary pupils, many of whom we hope will attain a standard of education fit for them to go on to university.
It was especially interesting for us as builders to visit in 2017 and see the building in progress. It is built of connecting 26 shipping containers and infilling gaps with traditional materials. A team from north Wales spent a few months teaching local labour welding and cutting skills as well as employing many masons and carpenters from the community. One young man who has been right through the school and children’s home system is now a useful tradesman on the project.
One of our hopes in supporting Living Waters is that it will help to provide Tanzania with well-educated, honest young people ready to take their place in the growth and prosperity of their country through good governance. The school is regularly the top performing school in the Mwanza district.
Follow this link for more information.
Call us now to discuss any project you may have. The Martin Sewell Building Company, quality builders, Chichester.
The Martin Sewell Building Company Limited, Hungerdown House, Brittens Lane, Fontwell, West Sussex BN18 0ST
Telephone: 01243 542056
Email: martin@msbc.uk.com
