Help A Squaddie joins Voucher Magpie: how your shopping can help homeless veterans in Staffordshire

Help A Squaddie has joined Voucher Magpie. From today, you can choose it as your cause, and whenever you shop through one of our codes or deals, we'll give 50% of the commission the shop pays us to the charity. You pay the same price and still get your discount.

Help A Squaddie is a Cannock-based charity that supports veterans and their families in Staffordshire and South Derbyshire. Its main work is giving homeless ex-service men and women a stable home, and the help they need to get back on their feet. In its own words, it is about supporting our veterans after they've supported us.

At a glance

• Who: Help A Squaddie, registered charity 1182523, based at St John's Church in Heath Hayes, Cannock.
• What it does: runs The Russell Aston Home for Veterans, a veterans' food bank and a monthly veterans' breakfast, and helps struggling veterans with housing, debt, health and work.
• How to help through us: choose Help A Squaddie on its page, then shop as normal.
• What it costs you: nothing. The money comes out of our commission, not your basket.

From rehousing veterans to stopping homelessness early

Help A Squaddie was registered with the Charity Commission as a charitable incorporated organisation on 18 March 2019. In August that year, the register records funds received from an earlier charity, Save Our Soldier.

Its first aim was to rehouse homeless ex-service personnel. It soon found that homelessness could often be prevented if problems were dealt with sooner, so it widened its aims to getting struggling veterans help when and where they need it. It works alongside other agencies and organisations to get fast, direct help to people, and it is a member of the Association of ex-Service Drop-In Centres (ASDIC), which links veterans' drop-ins across the country.

What Help A Squaddie does today

At the centre of its work is The Russell Aston Home for Veterans, a four-bedroom house in Staffordshire for homeless veterans. Residents get a room, support and advice. The house has clear rules, including no alcohol and a drug and alcohol test before moving in.

Beyond the house, it runs a veterans' food bank and, once a month, a veterans' breakfast at St John's Church on Hednesford Road, promising a full English and lots of laughs. Veterans who come to it for help can get support with debt, filling in forms and making phone calls, finding and keeping a home, training and work, mental and physical health, alcohol and drug problems, and loneliness.

The Charity Commission register lists 5 trustees, none of them paid, and 12 volunteers. Its income was £177,644 for the year to 30 September 2025, and it spent £87,238.

How your shopping helps: a worked example

Say you spend £60 a month on groceries, outdoor gear and bits for the home at shops that pay us 3% commission. That's £1.80 commission, and 90p of it goes to Help A Squaddie. Over a year, £10.80 comes from shopping you were doing anyway.

If 100 supporters did the same, Help A Squaddie would get £1,080 a year. Commission rates differ from shop to shop, and some shops pay more on certain products, so your own total may be higher or lower.

What you can do now

1. Choose Help A Squaddie. Go to its page on Voucher Magpie and tap Choose. You don't need an account; we remember it on your device.
2. Shop for the things a home needs through us. Mountain Warehouse has 15% off for Blue Light Card holders and the Armed Forces, and clearance at up to 70% off. Dunelm has free standard delivery on orders over £60 and free same-day Click & Collect on bedding, towels and homeware. For the food shop, Iceland has free next-day delivery on online orders over £40, and its Bonus Club gives you £1 free for every £20 you save.
3. Use it for everything else too. Clothes, holidays, broadband and gifts all count, so Help A Squaddie gains whenever you shop through us.
4. Fundraise. Help A Squaddie welcomes events of every size, from a tea party with friends to a marathon, and is set up with PayPal Giving Fund, GoFundMe and Facebook Fundraising. Its fundraising page explains how to get in touch.
5. Donate. You can give directly. As the charity puts it, its funds go into helping the veterans it supports with supplies, food and training.

Questions

Does choosing Help A Squaddie cost me anything?

No. The shop pays us a commission for sending it your order, and we give half of it to Help A Squaddie. Your price and your discount stay the same.

When does Help A Squaddie get the money?

A shop confirms a sale, usually 30 to 90 days after the order, once the return period has passed. We pay each cause its confirmed commission every quarter.

Can I get help from Help A Squaddie myself?

If you've served and you live in Staffordshire or South Derbyshire, yes. You can apply yourself, or a support agency can refer you, using its online application form. It asks about your service and for proof of service, and you can also apply for a room at The Russell Aston Home for Veterans or for access to the food bank. If it's an emergency, dial 999.

Can I change my cause later?

Yes, any time, from any cause's page. Your future shopping then goes to the new cause.

Sources: Help A Squaddie: home, about us, application form, fundraise for us, events, Charity Commission: charity 1182523, governance, financial history