The Good Guys heavily invests in social justice

Gives back to homeless community.

Melbourne’s iconic laneway, Hosier Lane, has been chosen as the site of Youth Projects’ new living room designed for homeless youth. Construction company, the Hickory Group, design and architecture practice Elenberg Fraser, and electrical and appliance retailer, The Good Guys, have all pitched in to create the state-of-the-art centre.

The Good Guys executive chairman, Andrew Muir told Appliance Retailer that Youth Project provides vital services for Melbourne’s homeless and disadvantaged.

“We have a philosophy of “doing good”, so when we heard about what they wanted to do in redeveloping their Hosier Lane facility we couldn’t help but get involved.

“Youth Projects has been planning to redevelop their Living Room for a number of years and we were thrilled to contribute not only all of the kitchen appliances for their new functioning kitchen where they will be teaching clients how to prepare healthy food but also the washers and dryers for their laundry facility and products such as MP3 players and computers to help make the Living Room space a place of social and personal development, conversation and comfort,” he said.

Youth Projects chairwoman Melanie Raymond (pictured above) said, “A lot of companies talk about wanting to give back, but what this group did was make a major statement about their commitment to social justice through providing hundreds of thousands dollars worth of pro bono contribution to lift our capacity and fill the gap.”

“They did it quietly behind the scenes without any fanfare, and they have not asked us to contribute one cent to the cost. It would be one of the most significant acts of social justice in the city,” she said.

“Normally [these companies] are designing and building for quite a well-heeled market, but they were willing to turn their focus to the people who have least in our community, and that is very encouraging,” Raymond added.

While Youth Projects focuses on getting young people back into employment, or apprenticeships, they welcome anyone in need. The new Living Room will be open to the public on June 16 between 1pm and 3pm.

(Originally from Appliance Retailer, posted Fri 1 Apr 2016 by Emily Bencic)