Recent updates

Homelessness Awareness Week - and another big Thank You!

An update for Safer off the Streets - Help Bristol's homeless night shelters

Feb 22 2017

Thank you to everyone for all of your support of the SOS Bristol campaign, helping people to be safer off the streets. With over 644 people supporting us we have almost raised £37,000 which means you have helped provide a bed for over 2,000 people this winter.

This week we have lots to update you on, please do have a read.

Homelessness Awareness Week

You may have heard that this week is Homelessness Awareness Week (HAW) in Bristol. It is taking place until Saturday 25 February and aims to raise awareness of homelessness, those at risk of becoming homeless and the issues facing rough sleepers. This week a range of organisations and charities working to tackle homelessness in the city are joining forces yet again to encourage people who think they might be in trouble to seek early advice and support before they reach crisis point. The focus is on help and early intervention to encourage people to look out for each other, spot the early warning signs and take action.

What happens if you can’t meet your rent or mortgage this month? Do you have a safety net? In Bristol 1 in 4 rough sleepers ended up on the streets after being evicted.

Art 4 Change – Cause and Complexity at The Island

One of the events taking place during HAW is a brilliant multi-media exhibition entitled Cause and Complexity which features contributions from a range of local artists, including those with a personal experience of homelessness.
The exhibition aims to engage both artist and viewer with diverse causes and often complex circumstances which can lead to and perpetuate homelessness.
 
Exhibition organiser Roxanne Courtney said: “Following several overseas placements with charities, I returned to Bristol last year and I was struck by the visible increase in homelessness across the city. In these precarious times we must take action, channel our efforts, and reach out to those in need.
 
“Using a range of mediums from ceramics, collage, illustration, installation, paint, print, photography and film, Cause and Complexity is a direct, creative response from local artists, to raise awareness of homelessness in Bristol.
 
“I hope the exhibition challenges the stigma and stereotypes associated with homelessness, and encourages people to look deeper at our changing society, and the reasons behind the dramatic increase of people pushed out onto the streets.”
 
Mai Brillet from Art4Change, who are exhibiting at the event, said: “Our exhibit was created, set up and invigilated with the input of those who have experienced homelessness; our piece is an open call to all to consider their proximity to and inclusion in what homelessness means.”

Other highlights of the week

During the week, 18 freestanding mirrors will pop up in The Galleries, Cabot Circus and City Hall encouraging people to take a closer look at their mental health, relationships and finances. The messaging will ask people to take a good look at their own circumstances and consider what they would do if they found themselves in trouble. Ultimately the mirrors aim to encourage people to take early action if they think there is any chance they could be in danger of becoming homeless.

The Sleep Out

The week will culminate in the annual sponsored Sleep Out, which is being organised by the Bristol Homeless Forum. Around 250 people are expected to take part in the event at the Pip ‘n Jay Church from 10pm on Friday February 24. Further details about the sleep-out can be found at http://bristolhf.org.uk/home-page/upcoming-events/sleepout-2017/

Seeking help early

We have made some great progress in supporting people off the streets and there is still much more to do.

Homelessness is everyone’s responsibility and there are things we can all do to prevent difficulties reaching crisis point. There is help available for finances, relationships and mental health that can prevent homelessness but the trick is to seek help as early as possible. There’s a whole range of services available to help people worried about losing their home – but it is vital to make people aware that it is important to act before it is too late. Further information about the help available for anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless is available at the council’s website at http://www.bristol.gov.uk/homeless
 
Please continue to share the campaign, we really appreciate it.

Thanks from all at Safer off the Streets.

What picnic are you taking?

An update for Outdoor Cinema in Teignmouth

Feb 20 2017

What picnic are you taking?

We want to make the outdoor cinema a fun family event and where groups of friends will have a good enjoyable time. So, don’t forget your picnic, blanket and chairs!

The Rugby club will have a bar and will be doing food and their food is very good!

Have you invited your friends? You could share a blanket and some food… get them to join you it’s going to be great!

Paul

To make a pledge visit www.fundsurfer.com/outdoorcinema

Thank you from TheGivingMachine

An update for TheGivingMachine - Be The Key

Feb 20 2017

Last year, you kindly backed TheGivingMachine's fundraising project on Fundsurfer.  The money we raised contributed towards the development and launch of our mobile app for iPhone and iPad.  

Over £9.4m in goods and services were purchased via TheGivingMachine in 2016 - this generated over £200k in free donations to support schools, charities and other community organisations over the UK.  Our app only started rolling out in April 2016 but is already contributing almost 8% of donations generated.

We have an exciting year planned for 2017 and hope to secure additional explansion funding to help roll out an Android app as well.

Thanks for joining us on our journey to convert even more spending into good deeds,

Richard

Your ideas and suggestions

An update for Outdoor Cinema in Teignmouth

Feb 13 2017

I just wanted to say thank you for backing the Teignmouth Outdoor Cinema Project. I cannot thank you enough for your help and support it really does mean a lot.

We have been getting a lot of media attention and people think this is a great idea but we need to convert interest into pledges.

We have 70 backers which is fantastic but we have only 27 days left to meet our target to get other people to make a pledge.

If you have any ideas to suggestions on how to get more people to pledge, please do not hesitate to e-mail your ideas.

Regards

Paul

Book Your Visit

An update for Bristol's First Cat Cafe

Feb 10 2017

Dear Supporters,

As promised here is our booking system LIVE for you all.

Book your visit here at www.bookeo.com/youandmeow

Good luck with your booking.

Ewa

x

Crowdfund Extension Date

An update for Outdoor Cinema in Teignmouth

Feb 10 2017

Good Evening

We have been contacted by lots of people who did not relise that the only way to get tickets for the outdoor cinema was to make a pledge ... some thought that we would sell tickets at Bitton House and the Pavillions etc

In response to this we have by, popular demand, as they say extended the date of the crowdfund to end of March in order to get the remaining £2k required and ensure that no one misses out on tickets.

If you have any questions regarding this please e-mail me or call  01626 775700

Regards

Paul

Get ready - booking system is going LIVE tomorrow.

An update for Bristol's First Cat Cafe

Feb 9 2017

Dear Supporters,

As most of you follow us on Facebook and know the recent news, our Official Opening is happening on 25th of February.

Our booking system is going Live on 11th at 10 pm.

However...

You have been the first who have contributed towards our project and believed in us to bring this project to life. For this reason and as a thank you from my side I will open the booking system exclusively for all of you 24 hrs before announcing it to the public.

The booking system will be shared here via Fundsurfer at 10 pm tomorrow (10th of Feb), so please watch your email box.

We got over 800 people waiting to book, so please be aware that who books first comes first. But hopefully with this advantage of having access to booking system 24hrs before, you will be able to book very first days.

Regarding an Opening date and it's booking - I will be sending separate email tomorrow to each of you who have purchased Grand Opening Date as also Behind The Scenes with further details how to book as it will be a different process of booking a slot for that day. So please watch for your email tomorrow at 10 pm too!

Ewa

1 Day to go- and good news

An update for Outdoor Cinema in Teignmouth

Feb 9 2017

Just 1 day to go and things are looking good 

We have £4000 and an off line pledge we have will go live to day

A very big thanks for your help... we will have some god news latter !

We just need a few more people 

Regards

Paul

A touch of gold ..

An update for St George's Bristol Crowdfund

Feb 8 2017

Many congratulations to our first two Golden Ticket winners, Katie McConochie and Patrick Royston, whose names were drawn from a top hat of all eligible crowdfund backers as part of our new season launch reception at our Soloists of the OAE concert on January 20. We will be in contact by email regarding all outstanding rewards in the course of next week.  

A touch of gold also applies to a forthcoming announcment that our main project contractor, Midas, is about to start construction work on our new extension.. on February 20.

As well as the crowdfund about to reach its next milestone target of £50,000, a further £100,000 has been raised towards our overall capital appeal in the last two weeks. This includes a further major contribution to our matching fund, which enables a second phase of the crowdfund to go ahead with an increased match from the current 50% to 100% on every donation made. That means for a future donation of £100, this will secure a further £100 matched funding, which together with gift aid on the original donation makes for a total gift to our appeal of £225.  

Look out for further updates as we count down to this second phase launch to co-incide with the start of the building works, and please do continue to spread the word about our campaign, as we aim towards our next milestone target of £100,000. Remember that once we reach our final crowdfund appeal target of £200,000 we will have secured the remaining target for our overall Building a Sound Future appeal, so fully funding the new extension and transformation for all visitors to St George's Bristol. 

Thank you again for all your support. 

We've raised our target after an amazing weekend of Stories and Songs for Syrians!

An update for Stories and Songs for Syrians

Feb 7 2017

Dear friends and supporters of Stories and Songs for Syrians,

Thank you so much for your generous donation to our fundraising appeal for Hands Up Foundation's urgent humanitarian and medical support to Syrian victims of war.

Our Stories and Songs for Syrians event last weekend was a great success, with many participants asking us when we’ll run another!

Babel Babies founder Cate Hamilton got everyone singing and doing the actions to songs in French, English and Arabic, impressing the Syrians with her music group's own version of Arabic classic children's song Has Sasan and getting all the kids doing the animal actions to Emily Gravett's Monkey and Me, in Arabic as 'Ana wa qirdi'. 

Nadine Kaadan gave an animated reading of The Jasmine Sneeze in Arabic, with Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp reading the English version, followed by a tutorial on how to draw Haroun the sneezy Damascus street cat, and how to render emotions with his huge, expressive eyes. Many in the audience were deeply moved by her reading of Ghadan (Tomorrow) in Arabic with Ruth reading the unpublished English version, and there were countless requests about when it would be out in English. Watch this space! We finished the session with Nadine teaching the children how to draw a traditional Damascus house and the children creating a mural together celebrating the ancient heritage of the 'Jasmine City', which has been hung in the window of the Suffolk Anthology bookshop.

We were overwhelmed by the generosity of guests, bringing Haroun-shaped biscuits, falafel and baklava, and also by local cafe Baker & Graze, who donated a tray of delicious rose and pistachio donuts! Over the course of the weekend and at Monday's Babel Babies session we raised £400 for the Hands Up Foundation. All the buzz around the Stories and Songs events among friends and in the local paper, The Gloucestershire Echo, clearly boosted the visibility of this online appeal, and we exceeded our £2000 target with a fortnight still to go!

Please help us raise as much as we can for the Hands Up Foundation: this UK-based charity funds many humanitarian and development projects for displaced Syrians in refugee camps, including emergency relief to survive the harsh winter and a prosthetic limb clinic for Syrian victims of war.

We achieved our target of £2000 and have now raised our goal to £3000. Perhaps with your help and the support of your friends we can raise even more to help Syrian refugees to rebuild their lives.

Thank you! Shukran! شكرا

Ruth, Hanan and Nadine