LONDON, [October 2018]: This Christmas, B&Q will be selling an adorable Festive Fairy doll to raise money for its national charity partner, the housing and homelessness charity, Shelter. For every fairy sold, B&Q will be donating a minimum of £2 to support the charity’s frontline advice and support services. Set to raise more than £25,000, the fairy will make a real difference to families facing homelessness this Christmas.
 
Complete with a magical wand and fairy crown, the Shelter Fairy has a special animation feature and sings ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’ when you press its hand - making it an ideal gift for those who want to help a good cause and spread some festive cheer.
Participating B&Q stores nationwide will also be holding special fundraising events in stores the weekend 7th -9th December.
 
B&Q’s partnership with Shelter stems from a shared commitment to make a good home accessible to all and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds so far. In addition to supporting the charity’s frontline services, the leading home improvement retailer also funds a team of specialist DIY skills advisers.
 
The DIY skills advisers, located across the country, provide practical help to families settling into a new home following a period of homelessness, as well as supporting others to stay in their current home by making essential home improvements.
 
To date the DIY service has helped almost 500 families to create homes they feel safe, comfortable and good about. This includes teaching people basic DIY skills, such as how to put up blinds or paint walls, in addition to carrying out essential jobs like fitting extra security locks.
 
Andy Moat, People Director, B&Q said: “At B&Q, we believe that everybody should be able to have a home they feel good about, and our goal is to make home improvement accessible for everyone. We’re glad the money we raise from the sales of the festive Fairy doll can further support Shelter in making a difference to those people in difficult circumstances.”
 
 
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “A family becomes homeless every 11 minutes in Britain, and we want this to stop. That’s why we’re delighted that B&Q have chosen to support Shelter with their special festive fairy.
 
“As well as sprinkling Christmas cheer, this little fairy will help us to raise vital funds in our fight against bad housing and homelessness, so that one day no family will have to face the trauma of losing their home.”
 
B&Q’s Shelter Fairy costs £10 and is available now in B&Q stores nationwide, a minimum of £2 from every toy sold will go towards Shelter.

For more information please contact the B&Q Press Office on B&Q@goodrelations.co.uk / 0207 932 3693.

ABOUT B&Q

• B&Q is the UK’s leading home improvement and garden living retailer, offering great prices across over 40,000 products in 297 stores across the UK, Ireland and on diy.com.
• Their team of around 27,000 colleagues of all ages are respected nation-wide for providing great home improvement help to customers. They’re the beating heart of B&Q and their iconic orange aprons are worn with pride.
• B&Q’s national charity partner is Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

Stores and colleagues nationwide are working to support the great cause with fundraising and donations of time and resource

• Every year, more than 20 million people make their homes and outdoor living better with B&Q, and every year the company achieves ever-higher standards for sustainable sourcing: https://www.kingfisher.com/sustainability/files/downloads/KFSR18_final_PDF_version.pdf
• B&Q is part of Kingfisher plc, the international home improvement company which operates over 1,200 stores in 10 countries across Europe.

 
About Shelter: Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. We campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. For free and independent advice from Shelter visit: https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help