The Brian Kennedy Trust is giving homeless families a window of opportunity to get their lives back on track.

Never seen this before, or heard Mr Kennedy speaking.....................................


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The Brian Kennedy Trust helps charity's miracle scheme take shape

The Brian Kennedy Trust is giving homeless families a window of opportunity to get their lives back on track.

Brian Kennedy, North West based businessman and owner of Premiership Rugby Union team Sale Sharks, is helping Flintshire-based charity Save the Family develop its Miracle Company, a new social enterprise created to re-train and educate homeless people.

Mr Kennedy, the entrepreneur behind household business names such as Everest and Weatherseal, property investment company Patrick Properties and specialist manufacturing companies Spectus and Ultraframe has donated £60,000 to the charity that will be used to help homeless adults develop new job skills in a new training facility.

The Miracle Company was launched at the end of 2010 to create employment opportunities and provide extra cash to fund the charity's activities in North East Wales and Cheshire.

Its workers are made up from mums and dads living in Save the Family's main housing centre at Northop and members of the local community. Parents are trained in carpentry and furniture repairs as well as food production skills. The company has a production centre at Northop and retail outlets in Mold and Chester. Future plans include additional workshop and production facilities at the charity's new Miracle Village near Chester.

Currently the company makes and refurbishes furniture donated by the public and sells the re-conditioned items through its charity shops. It also sells a range of jams, chutneys and preserves and has recently launched a new line of chocolates for sale. The cash injection will fund the growth of the project through new training schemes and equipment.

Mr Kennedy launched his charitable trust three years ago in a bid to encourage more affluent members of the community to help those who were less well off.

Linda Miles, director of the Brian Kennedy Trust, said the Miracle Company was exactly the type of enterprise that Brian wanted to support.

"Brian wanted to be involved in a project that was about engaging with those in need but also encouraging people to help themselves. Sometimes people hand over money to charities without really understanding the emotions that are involved in the charity's work.

"Brian was really impressed with Save the Family; moved by the work they do and what they've achieved so far. The Miracle Company is an example of how you can engage with people and through training and support give them new skills and opportunities," she added.

Save the Family has also joined forced with West Cheshire College to provide new training programmes for the charity's residents. The courses will include food hygiene and food preparation skills and it's hoped to create a new training and enterprise centre inside the former disused Flint Chapel.

Save the Family's Head of Marketing and Communications, Helen Booth, said: "We are delighted Mr Kennedy saw the potential of the Miracle Company. Many of our families have lost their homes through redundancy or long-term unemployment. Save the Family's main aim is to keep the family unit together and prevent children of homeless families being taken into care, but it also wants to give families the skills they need to rejoin their communities as fully contributing members of society.

"The Miracle Company does just that ... providing people who thought there was no future with renewed hope and energy to move on. Mr Kennedy's fantastic donation will certainly speed along those ambitions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgE4X9cJoaw

Not very far from where Ex-Private Investigator Cowley lives. At least now I can get a feel of what Brian Kennedy is like. I thought he was the Bouncer when I first saw the film

A Jehovahs Witness would never be seen courting publicity for doing charitable works like Brian Kennedy is doing in this video. Flintshire has a large Jehovahs Witness congregation. Brian Kennedy is not known among the Jehovhas Witnesses in the area.

This video is toe-curling for a true Witness - "Do not left your left hand know what your right is doing".

@littlepixie wrote:A Jehovahs Witness would never be seen courting publicity for doing charitable works like Brian Kennedy is doing in this video. Flintshire has a large Jehovahs Witness congregation. Brian Kennedy is not known among the Jehovhas Witnesses in the area.

This video is toe-curling for a true Witness - "Do not left your left hand know what your right is doing".

I totally agree littlepixie. Also I have knowledge of Jehovahs Witnesses as I grew up with one and we would have been best friends if her parents had let her. She said they would keep themselves totally separate from other religions for fear of being contaminated by them. Jehovahs Witnesses are not even allowed to receive a blood transfusion or are thrown out of the sect so they would never support IVF (that even the Catholic church "condemns as gravely evil acts, both IVF in and of itself, and stem cell research performed on IVF embryos.")

http://www.catholicinsight.com/online/church/vatican/article_475.shtml

Here is an article about Brian Kennedy which I thing shows the surprise of some employees in his choosing to back the McCanns

"THE millionaire owner of Stockport-based Sale Sharks is the mystery benefactor supporting Kate and Gerry McCann.

Businessman Brian Kennedy decided to back the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann after learning they would not use the £1million in the search fund for their legal fees.

Mr Kennedy, who amassed a £250million fortune from double glazing, told the Stockport Express he felt "compelled" to offer his Latium Group’s financial support in the face of "incredible accusations against Gerry and Kate".

The couple have been made formal suspects by Portuguese police investigating the case of their missing daughter, and have been the subject of press speculation here and abroad.

The Cheshire-based entrepreneur who is not believed to know the McCanns personally, explained: "In the light of the quite literally incredible accusations against Gerry and Kate McCann, which are clearly exacerbating their emotional torture, I felt compelled to offer, along with other like-minded businessmen, financial support and the full logistical support of the Latium team.

"That support is principally our in-house lawyer Ed Smethurst and (spokesman) Clarence Mitchell."

He continued: "This will relieve the McCanns of the daily pressure of co-ordinating the legal teams that will expedite the clearing of Gerry and Kate’s names, allowing all parties to refocus on finding

Madeleine. This will relieve the McCanns of the daily pressure of co-ordinating the legal teams that will expedite the clearing of Gerry and Kate's names, allowing all parties to re-focus on finding Madeleine."

Mr Kennedy previously owned Stockport County FC through his company Cheshire Sport.

Former Stockport County managing director Kevan Taylor told the Stockport Express: "I have not experienced Brian doing anything quite like this before.

"But I can say that I have observed him being incredibly supportive of people who have worked for him who fell ill.

"He ensured they and their families had the best possible private medical care."

Mr Taylor, now a finance director with the Lawn Tennis Association, added: "Although Brian is an extremely private person, he is a genuinely very generous man.

"Let’s just say that when I first read the news (of his backing for the McCanns) I said ‘oh’...but then I wasn’t really surprised at all."

Edinburgh-born Mr Kennedy’s companies have included Weatherseal Holdings, Everest and Space Kitchens and Bedrooms.

The Latium Group, which has an annual turnover of about £400m, is involved in plastics moulding, conservatory roof manufacture, glass processing, home improvement retailing and property.

Mr Kennedy, a Jehovah’s Witness, has also used his financial clout to help build a church in recent years.

News of Mr Kennedy’s backing came during reports from Portugal that Robert Murat, the first person to be declared an official suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance, was set to be cleared by police.

There have also been claims that Portuguese officers failed to follow up a second reported sighting of Madeleine in Morocco."

http://menmedia.co.uk/stockportexpress/news/s/1017673_excounty_owners_millions_for_mccanns

I had heard he financed a Kingdom Hall. Even bragging about that fact is totally against the religion he is supposed to be part of. Having money does not make you any more popular than the next person in a Kingdom Hall. You are all equal. He would hold no more power there than anyone else.

Anyway they've never heard of him in Flint.