Staff at Norwich law firm Mills & Reeve have selected St Martins Housing Trust as their charity of the year.

The local trust, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, works to provide homeless people sleeping rough on the streets of Norwich with emergency access to accommodation, as well as full residential care.

Mills & Reeve will be supporting one of the trust's two residential care homes, Carrow Hill Home, through various fundraising activities.

The 16-bed house offers residential care to those who have been living on the streets and have long-term care needs, including mental health issues.

Derek Player, general manager at St Martins Housing Trust, said: 'Raising funds for our work with some of the most vulnerable members of our community is a constant challenge. But the interest shown in our work by the staff at Mills and Reeve is very exciting for us.

'This link-up is another great way of St Martins celebrating our 40th year of continuous service to homeless people in Norwich.'

St Martins began in 1972 and was originally known as the Norwich Night Shelter Project, based at St James Church on Barrack Street.

The trust initially aimed to support people after a period of homelessness, helping them to regain an independent lifestyle in the community.

Derek continued: 'Starting from humble beginnings with a group of volunteers St Martins has evolved into a hard-working and forward-thinking local charity.

'But we are still single-focused and still Norwich-based, and still dependent to a large degree on the support of a wide range of Norfolk donors.'

Over the next year Mills & Reeve will help to carry out various fundraising and volunteering activities to support the work of St Martins.

James Hunter, head of Mills & Reeve's Norwich office, in St James Court, off Whitefriars, said: 'After hearing first-hand about the great work St Martins Housing Trust is carrying out we quickly came to the decision that they would be an excellent charity to support.

'We look forward to working closely together with them in the coming weeks and months, both in terms of raising vital funds and, just as importantly, giving up our time to get involved in some of their inspirational work.'

For further details about the charity, go to www.stmartinshousing.org.uk

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