Labre’s Hope was awarded the Community Renewal Fund (CRF) as part of the Government’s Levelling-Up agenda. This was made possible by Aaron Probert’s (Founder, Director) unceasing hard work and dedication. From bid writing and budgeting, to soap formulating and experimenting, Aaron did it all. The CRF allowed us to kickstart the organisation, and begin changing lives in South Yorkshire. We immediately began by searching for a premises, which would later become Labre’s Hope HQ.

Labre’s Hope moves into Parkgate, Rotherham and there was a lot to do before we were ready to start our journey of ending homelessness. With our official launch date of late February in mind, our first job was to transform the building. We needed a fully kitted out manufacturing room for our soap crafters, where the fantastic Hazel Oakes applied her inspirational mural. And we needed rooms upstairs for our partners to deliver their well-being sessions, and employment coaching classes. You can see the extent of these transformations in the video below.

A momentous day for Labre’s Hope. We officially opened our doors to the community, and marked this with a fantastic launch event, attended by key stakeholders, and those who had made the journey possible. Both Aaron Probert and Joash Nelson-Piercy (Co-Director) gave speeches, along with representatives from our amazing partners, Crisis and the South Yorkshire Housing Association. Being able to showcase our newly-renovated premises, and show our stakeholders and partners how we plan to fight homelessness made for a very proud day.

We were so proud to recruit nine soap makers, who are on a recent journey out of homelessness, and are beneficiaries of Labre’s Hope. This team has been nothing short of awesome, picking up the craft of soap-making swiftly, and through teamwork, resilience and dedication, they have all mastered the process. We cannot wait to put their soap into your hands.

Enactus is a community of student, academic and business leaders who enable social innovation through entrepreneurial action. Our very own Aaron Probert is an Enactus Sheffield alumnus, and was invited to speak at Enactus’ 2022 UK competition in London off the back of his success with Labre’s Hope. He went and did one better- he brought the whole Labre’s Hope team. Three of our fantastic beneficiaries- Ben, Christina and Danny joined Aaron on stage for a question-and-answer session about their stories of homelessness, and their journeys out of it. In front of over 1000 people, this was a highly emotional, but incredible experience to be a part of. Thank you to Enactus UK for having us.

A truly memorable day for Labre’s Hope. John Healey MP, Member of Parliament for Wentworth and Dearne and Shadow Minister for Defence came to visit us. We were so proud to be able to show our parliamentary representative what we do, and the direct impact Labre’s Hope has in the community. John has always placed community action at the heart of his parliamentary role, which as constituents of Wentworth and Dearne, we could not appreciate more. Thank you, John and your team for supporting us in our fight to end homelessness.

Labre’s Hope released its first line of products, the ‘Hope is on its Way’ collection, to the public. This was an immensely proud day for us, and is the first step towards becoming sustainable. All of our soaps are vegan, 100% naturally made, free of palm-oil and are great for your skin! To see our beneficiaries’ hard work over the last few months in perfecting their craft become available to buy, is amazing, and we could not be prouder of our team!

We’re all about providing genuinely needs-led, beneficiary-focused services at Labre’s Hope, and that means listening and learning. We took everything we learnt from our pilot in Rotherham and made some exciting changes, including a move to new premises in Sheffield, on the Hillfoot Industrial Estate, to improve access and widen our reach. We also evolved the programme model to 12-week employment placements, so we are better placed to help more people, meet increasing demand from referral partners and really empower our beneficiaries to move on into long-term, sustainable and fulfilling careers.

After lots of conversations and listening to feedback from our stockists, we were really proud to launch our brand-new candle boxes with a beautifully brand-aligned vine illustration and a range of new scents.