An APP developed by a Trowbridge charity has been commended at an awards evening.
The free Amber Homeless Helper app was developed by homeless charity Amber to help people access information and advice about homelessness.
It was highly commended at the 2012 Charity Times Award Ceremony last week in the best use of technology category.
Chris Bath, based at Amber’s Bythesea Lodge in Trowbridge, thought of the idea for the app.
He said: “It’s basically a directory of services to help people who are homeless. Very few people who are homeless are actually sleeping on the streets, they may be sofa surfing, in temporary accommodation.
“The first question we’re always asked is ‘Do homeless people have smartphones?’ Well yes, they do, by and large.
“The second target audience is professional people working with homeless people, and thirdly, concerned members of the public.”
“It was nice to get nominated. We were up against some quite big players, including the Salvation Army and JustGiving so to get highly commended we exceeded our expectations. It was just brilliant.”
Up to 30 young people live at Bythesea Lodge at any one time and stay for about six months, working to turn their lives around.
Services that would like to be included on the app can contact Mr Bath on 01225 759905 or at chris.bath@amberweb.org
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