ibis Styles Gloucester Road, London, has donated all usable furniture and fittings to the charity DEBRA as it goes through a complete refurbishment over the next few months. The charity, which supports people suffering from the potentially fatal skin condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), is hoping to raise £15,000 by selling the furniture in its shops.
DEBRA provides practical and emotional support to people suffering from EB and funds research into effective treatments and a cure for the condition, which affects approximately 5,000 people in the UK and half a million worldwide. EB causes constant pain due to unstoppable internal and external blistering. At its worst, EB is fatal, and even in its least severe forms, it causes lifelong disability and pain.
Proceeds from the sale of the high quality furniture and electronics, including televisions, bedside tables, lamps and mattresses, will be used to fight EB. Money raised could fund potentially life changing research currently underway to investigate whether a drug, Rigosertib, could combat the cancer caused by some types of EB, or help to fund specialist EB nurses providing care and support across the UK. Phase one of the refurbishment is now complete and £3,565 has been raised to date.
During each phase of the refurbishment at ibis Styles Gloucester Road, representatives from DEBRA will collect the furniture and take it to one of their 10 shops across London. A third of the guest rooms have been redecorated and newly furnished to date, and the remainder are expected to be finished by December. The entire hotel, including all public areas, will be refurbished as part of the ibis Styles brand by early 2019.
Cristina Cavaco, General Manager, ibis Styles Gloucester Road, commented: “The work DEBRA charity is doing to try and find a cure for EB is vital for those affected and we are delighted to be able to help them by selling the existing furniture and fixtures from the hotel. We hope that the money raised will help fund more research and we look forward to finding out the total amount raised once the refurbishment is complete.”
Gary Adamou, London Area Manager for DEBRA’s Furniture and Electrical shops, said: “We’re delighted Ibis Styles Gloucester Road has chosen to fight EB and show their support for the thousands of people suffering from EB across the UK by donating furniture and electrical goods to DEBRA’s charity shops during this refurbishment. We hope this will be the start of a long and productive partnership with Accor Hotels which will help us improve the quality of life for the EB Community here and now and ultimately find a cure for EB.”
AccorHotels is committed to working with the communities it operates in, with Solidarity AccorHotels, the Group’s endowment fund, backing social projects to help people on the fringes of society find a way back in through employment, for example.
One of these community engagement initiatives is Hospitality Futures, which helps young people who are unemployed, not in education or training and may have had barriers to employment to get on to the career ladder by providing a range of skills to support candidates into a career within the hospitality sector. An industry mentor is also assigned to each candidate throughout the training and for six months after the placement, with the aim of securing a job for every participant in the programme.
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