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A charity which supports the homeless and those affected by poverty has relaunched with a new board of trustees.

Helping Caring Team (HCT) was founded in 2019 by Oakdale resident Hayley Thomas and provided help and advocacy to homeless and vulnerable people.

However, after a series of family bereavements and other personal pressures, Hayley decided to step away from the charity earlier this year. Its team of volunteers wanted the charity’s work to continue, but this unfortunately was unsustainable as some of the charity’s trustees also wanted to step down.

It looked as if the charity was to close until the people behind the successful Blackwood community hub Libanus Lifestyle decided to step in to support Hayley and the volunteers for them to continue.

The charity will now be concentrating on helping the homeless and vulnerable in Caerphilly County Borough by forging closer links with the local authority.

Karen James, from Libanus Lifestyle, has been appointed to the new board of HCT trustees.

She said: “It’s very impressive what Hayley is doing and we are going to do our best to help her grow this.

“We are looking to the future, but doing things slightly differently, with the support from Blackwood councillors Andrew Farina-Childs, Nigel Dix and Kevin Etheridge.

“We’ll be meeting with the council to see how we can meet the needs of people who need support.”

The charity has taken its usual summer break and will be re-launching its services next month with an emphasis on coordinating with other organisations to help people long-term and sustainably.

Currently, the charity runs its food bank on a Wednesday morning from its ‘Pink Pantry’ community hub at 28 Bridge Street, Blackwood.

On the initial decision to step back from the charity, Hayley said: “We lost three close family members suddenly and it just became a bit much. Running the charity got on top of me and I needed some time off which wasn’t possible.”

She added: “I spoke with Karen, who has always been really supportive, and she offered to help.

“I’m really looking forward to the future.”

For more information about the charity and its work, and how to donate, visit Obv.sr/hct to join their Facebook group.