A vital north-east charity is offering an improved service for its users, thanks to a donation from an oil and gas giant.
Aberdeen Cyrenians – which provides support for homeless people in the area – now has three refurbished soundproof meeting rooms, paid for by Exxon Mobil.
About 20 people use the rooms each day as part of the charity’s drop-in service, getting advice and information from support workers as well as essential items such as food parcels and clothes.
The rooms will also be used by the charity’s other community schemes, including the Violence Against Women Project and the Domestic Abuse Support and Accommodation Project.
Scott Baxter, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “Given the personal and confidential nature of appointments, Aberdeen Cyrenians chose to undertake this work to reassure our service users their privacy is of the utmost importance.
“With the number of people accessing our services constantly increasing, the ability to provide appropriate spaces to work with service users is crucial.
“We have a longstanding relationship with Exxon Mobil and are incredibly grateful to them for their continued support of our services. The rooms will be put into use immediately to help us support our service users in any way we can.”
The soundproofing work was carried out over a two-week period to minimise disruption, allowing the charity to keep all its services running as normal.
Sophie Foale, Exxon Mobil’s community affairs adviser, added: “We are pleased to continue our support of the Cyrenians, helping them make such an important difference to the lives of homeless people in the Aberdeen area.”