From all at Safer off the Streets - Thank you!!
December 2016
Body
Wow – what a way we have come over the past few weeks! We are delighted by the support and compassion that is being shown by our Bristol Community. Thank you so much!
We have already raised over £17,000 online which equates to over 1,000 bed spaces for homeless people this winter! We are also hearing from lots of groups and individuals who are supporting us with fundraisers in the community too and we look forward to updating the total to include this in the coming weeks.
It certainly looks like we will hit £20,000 in the next few days but please continue to share the campaign with people – let five of your friends or family members who care about helping vulnerable people in our community know about SOS Bristol – it really will help to make all the difference.
If you haven’t seen the amazing '2 Sides of Bristol' video from Aspect Film and Video yet, please do watch and share it: http://bit.ly/2hwjMlh
An update for Caring at Christmas:
We’re overwhelmed by the generosity of people at this time of year, and have received a steady stream of food and clothing donations – not to mention two different children getting in contact to offer homeless people their Christmas money! Our efforts to sign up volunteers for the Christmas shelter are also going well, with over 500 volunteers from Bristol and beyond taking up shifts to help us run our Christmas shelter. But we still need more, particularly for our evening shifts. If you’re interested in helping out, please check our webpage. In a touching gesture yesterday, a local 12 year old girl got in contact with us yesterday offering to donate her Christmas present money to homeless people.
Bristol News:
You may have read that on 24 November St Mungo’s coordinated the annual street count of people sleeping rough in Bristol. Whilst the official figures now show a 27% reduction of people sleeping rough, we need to remember that this new figure of 74 people on this night is still too many and does not take into account some of the people we know to be sleeping rough who were not visible on this night. It is just a snap shot, which clearly shows far too many vulnerable people on our streets.
The two main reasons for people to start sleeping rough are relationship breakdown and eviction. Relationship, debt, job or tenancy issues are the early warning signs that could lead to rough sleeping. If you are anyone you know are having problems, get advice and guidance early.
St Mungo’s are running an auction which you may be interested in viewing which ends on 15 December – happy bidding!
Thank you again from all at SOS Bristol!
