Ruben’s Voice Wellbeing Hub

Framework

YOR4Good

Client

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Contractor

Morris & Spottiswood Limited

Value

£17,691

Ruben's Voice volunteer using a ride-on lawnmower

David Barr

30th July 2024

Ruben’s Voice

As part of their social value site initiative commitments, Morris and Spottiswood engaged with Ruben’s Voice – a mental health and wellbeing organisation, based in Hedon in East Yorkshire. Morris and Spottiswood met with the organisation’s founder, Katy Smith, to understand where they could assist and add value. The organisation was set up in 2021 after the founder’s son took his own life at the age of 18.

Every year since, the project has organised a large-scale community music festival which attracts over 2,000 local visitors and provides an opportunity for everyone to connect, celebrate, relax and understand more about mental health services, should they need them. The festival enables local artists and young people with a passion for music and the arts to have a platform and perform on a professional festival stage.

A community wellbeing hub

Katy was looking to set up a permanent home in the form of a wellbeing hub for the whole community to access year-round and the organisation had already purchased a portacabin for the services to run from but had no electricity or water supply connected to the cabin.
Morris & Spottiswood donated and installed a brand-new generator and Watermatic, enabling the hub to formally open to the community and run its wide range of services and activities effectively and sustainably.

Sports fields

In addition to this, they also purchased and donated a brand new ride-on lawnmower for the organisation, which enabled volunteers to maintain their three acres of land so it could be used by various local groups and sports teams.

A legacy

The physical asset of the hub, along with its ‘wrap-around/one-stop-shop’ model, generates a legacy in a variety of ways because it allows the community itself to own, deliver, maintain and benefit from the space. By providing electricity and water services, alongside outdoor grounds maintenance, the capacity and resilience of the community space to support different groups is increased and its service offer can continue to widen against the local needs of the area.

Positive impact

Katy Smith founder of Ruben’s Voice thanked Morris and Spottiswood, saying: “Your kindness is already having a wonderful positive impact on our community. The mower you bought for us is allowing us to keep the grass cut regularly and the grass quality has improved so much already. The field is used daily by dog walkers, families, kids and teens and several football teams have used the field for training. The generator you have provided means we can now use our building and having electricity means we can include so much more at our events to raise awareness of suicide and the help available to anyone struggling with their mental health. "

Beautiful space

Katy went on: "As you know, the Ruben's Voice Wellbeing Hub is intended to improve wellbeing by encouraging our community to come together and enjoy activities together. We can finally start to do this because your generosity and support has made all of this possible. We really can't thank you enough! I hope you and your colleagues will continue to work with us and enjoy the beautiful space you have worked so hard to help us create.”