Poole-based Helping Homeless Veterans UK has won £5,000 in a national competition.

Selco Builders Warehouse – which has a branch at Fleets Corner Business Park in Poole – organised the competition, designed to support charities and community groups.

Twelve good causes shared £6,000 worth of building materials prior to the grand finale public vote.

Helping Homeless Veterans UK, which has headquarters on Allens Lane, eventually won with more than 2,800 votes – a 28 per cent share.

CEO David Wood said the money would be used to fund The Veterans Build Project to provide temporary accommodation for any veteran before more permanent arrangements can be found.

He said: “We are a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping veterans once they have left service.

“Far too many veterans find themselves homeless or sofa surfing and we work with them to find suitable accommodation.

“We get in touch with the local authority and help with the legislation to get them into a home, before offering follow-up support to reintegrate them into society.

“The Veterans Build Project is a crucial and exciting part of our strategy and we have already secured more than £70,000 of funding to make it a reality.

“Since forming in 2019 we have already provided homes for 154 veterans – and we are committed to helping many more.”

Carine Jessamine, marketing director at Selco, said: “The Selco Stars campaign has been hugely successful with hundreds of applications and more than 10,000 votes.

“We had some amazing finalists, all of which do incredible work in their communities. A huge congratulations to Helping Homeless Veterans UK for mobilising its support base so successfully to secure such a large percentage of the vote.

“The charity is doing invaluable work to help our often-forgotten heroes. I’m really proud that Selco is involved with such a life-changing project.”

For more information on Helping Homeless Veterans UK, visit www.hhvuk.org