Helping the Homeless and Honouring Her Majesty - Westcombe Charitable Foundation

By Vraj Pankhania

All of us at the Westcombe Foundation have been busy as 2022 ticked into 2023, the Foundation’s fifteenth anniversary year, with a number of projects we’ve been involved in that we’re keen to share more information about.

Helping The Homeless

Far too many people in the UK suffer from a lack of affordable and safe housing, and homelessness is a growing problem that we all sadly see every day.

Tackling the issue of homelessness and supporting those who are without a home is a top priority for the Westcombe Foundation. We are proud to continue our ongoing work with Acton Homeless Concern, a local charity providing basic needs, services and advice to homeless people. We’ve began working with the charity since last year supporting through projects including regular food donations to their soup kitchen.

This winter, as temperatures fell below -6 degrees celsius in December, we continued to partner with Acton Homeless Concern, donating a substantial number of duvets to people without homes as emergency relief from the cold weather.

We are proud to play our part, and are committed to continue to support projects and initiatives to help tackle the issue of homelessness in London and beyond.

Planting Trees for Her Majesty

Everybody at Westcombe was deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II last year. As part of our tribute to her, staff across a wide range of Westcombe Group’s developments planted trees in her honour as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) campaign.

QGC is a superb initiative set up by Her Majesty to mark her Platinum Jubilee by planting over a million trees across the United Kingdom, helping to contribute to making our country greener and more beautiful.

We are very proud to be supporting this campaign by planting trees in her name wherever we can, and we will continue to do so until the campaign comes to a close at the end of this year’s planting season in March.

Our Fifteenth Birthday

This year the Westcombe Foundation will celebrate its fifteenth birthday. It gives us an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on the important work we’ve achieved so far. The Foundation has helped countless people around the world, from funding emergency relief and reconstruction after devastating earthquakes struck Nepal in 2015 to setting up orphanages and funding cancer care in India.

We’ve also been very active in the UK, acting as four-year principal supporter of the highly prestigious Royal Charity Polo Day, sponsoring sit-down dinners for 1,000 people. These events raised £1million for the charities Tusk Trust and Sentebale, the chosen causes of The Prince of Wales (Prince William) and The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry).

As the cost-of-living crisis has worsened in the UK, we’ve worked with charities such as the Trussell Trust and Crisis, proving support and relief to those most vulnerable.

This year we’re looking forward to making the Westcombe Foundation bigger and better, expanding its reach and being able to help more people than ever, in the UK and around the world.

Stay tuned for more.

Back to news

Vraj Pankhania Granted Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts

Westcombe Group and Foundation Chairman and Founder Vraj Pankhania is honoured to have been admitted to the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) as a Fellow. The RSA is a royal society for...

Supporting young people out of homelessness with Centrepoint

At the Westcombe Foundation, we recognise the importance of doing our bit to help those who are vulnerable and living without a home. Tragically, the numbers of young people who...

Supporting the community in Gujarat

Ever since our origins as an organisation, the Westcombe Foundation has been determined to do what we can to give back to those in need, in the UK and across the whole world. We...

We all have a responsibility to fight the cost of living crisis

By Vraj Pankhania At the start of Q4 2022, inflation reached a 41-year high, topping 11%. Real household income is expected to fall by the end of this fiscal year. And over 90%...

The Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal

Everybody at the Westcombe Foundation has been deeply shocked and moved by tragic and heart-breaking events in Turkey and Syria over recent weeks. In response, we have chosen to...

Helping the hungry with Ealing Soup Kitchen

The Westcombe Foundation is committed to striving to alleviate the difficult experiences of those struggling with homelessness across the UK. One of our efforts to help those...

Tackling homelessness in South West London with SPEAR London

The Westcombe Foundation is always looking for new ways to expand our reach and access to those who need our help most. This is why we’ve partnered with our friends at SPEAR...

Westcombe Foundation honoured by Jain Social Group Nairobi

Vraj Pankhania and the Westcombe Foundation were immensely proud to have been honoured at the Jain Social Group Nairobi (JSGN) appreciation evening earlier this year. Vraj...

Built on an ethos of transparency, trust and dedication

By Vraj Pankhania, who spoke with Paul Andrews of Family Business United. When was the business founded? The Westcombe Group was founded in 1975. What does it do? Westcombe Group...