Recent updates
The latest news from our projects
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We have sneaked past £20k - thank you
An update for Safer off the Streets - Help Bristol's homeless night shelters
Dec 19 2016
~~Over the weekend we have sneaked past the £20k benchmark and we are delighted to tell you we are approaching £22,000. Thank you Bristol and the wider community, your generosity and compassion is going to directly help people off the streets and into somewhere warm and safe.
Once we reach £25,500 we will have enough to cover the average cost of the whole Bristol night shelter programme for three weeks. That’s all down to your amazing support.
If you have viewed our film, Shelter off the Streets , you will have heard Ed Reed from Caring in Bristol talk about homelessness. He said: “Despite all of the hard work we are doing it’s still not enough. We need to try and do more. It’s too big for one person to deal with but it’s not too big for everyone in Bristol to deal with.”
Your donation helps to make a direct change. A night shelter is the beginning of longer term support from frontline staff and volunteers who really help people make a life away from the streets.
Please continue to share our films and the information about the #SOSBristol campaign. This is a really exciting and pioneering campaign as it is rare for four charities to pull together for one cause.
Thank you for your support.
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From all at Safer off the Streets - Thank you!!
An update for Safer off the Streets - Help Bristol's homeless night shelters
Dec 14 2016
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!
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Shelter at Blue Monday 2017!
An update for Blue Monday 2017
Dec 13 2016
Shelter helps millions of people across the UK every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that one, no one will have to turn to us for help.
We provide people with the best possible help to solve their housing problems. Free accessible advice is available in our face-to-face advice Hub in Bristol, on our website and via expert advisers on our helpline.
Support the Blue Monday event by pledging to support #BlueMondayBris on Fundsurfer.
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Talking Money at Blue Monday 2017!
An update for Blue Monday 2017
Dec 13 2016
Talking Money has dedicated its mission to, “improving lives by tackling financial problems,” since 1990; empowering people to take control over their lives.
We work in Bristol and the surrounding areas to increase financial inclusion through supporting people with accessing benefits, reducing debt and expenditure and tackling arrears and fuel poverty.
We meet people every day who face many challenges like sickness, old age, disability and even sudden changes in life like divorce and finances can simply be an extra stress.
We aim to be there for people in those times, helping them find long lasting solutions. As one service user said, “I came having had no sleep, distressed, anxious about money and housing issues. I left in control of my situation rather than being controlled by it.”
Support Talking Money & others by pledging to support #BlueMondayBris on Fundsurfer.
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Album Recording Finished
An update for Original punk blues album by Bristol-based duo Husky Tones
Dec 7 2016
Hello, I realised its been a while since up dating everyone about the album. We finished recording a couple of weeks back the album has been mastered and now is getting printed. It sounds fantastic we are looking forward to sharing it with you in 2017. If you're in Bristol this weekend we'll be doing two very different gigs. One acoustic at the Eldon and the other full on punk rock blues electric at the Fleece on Monday. Details on our website (which is also been updated). Thank you all again. Victoria and Chris. xx
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Our very first crowd fund .. one week in
An update for St George's Bristol Crowdfund
Dec 6 2016
Huge thanks to each and every one of you.. the first 70 backers of our first ever crowd fund appeal!
Having raised over £5 million from major funding partners, representing 90% of the total for our Building a Sound Future appeal, our aim has always been to reach out to as many people as possible to contribute the final 10%. Our public appeal is set to raise a total of £500,000 over the next year, and a major part of achieving that is securing this crowdfund target of £200,000. Thanks to your support at the very start of this campaign, together with our match funding partners and gift aid, we have raised over £10,000 in the first week, which is a fantastic result.. thank you!
With your continued support by sharing the campaign and encouraging others to get involved we can continue to build the momentum of the campaign and attract an ever wider group of donors, from throughout Bristol and from music lovers everywhere.
Our Building a Sound Future project is all about making St George's Bristol more accessible. The new extension at the heart of the project creates welcoming new entrances front and back, as well as step free access for the first time in our history. New flexible spaces and much improved facilities, from more toilets to a lovely new garden facing cafe bar, will welcome artists and audiences who already know St George's for its fine acoustics and intimate atmosphere, while also ensuring we can extend that welcome much more widely, to all of Bristol's diverse communities.
We are reaching out to all of our supporters and to all the artists and audiences coming through our doors for concerts and events in the busy run up to Christmas. Look out for further updates as we work towards our target, and please do continue to share our campaign as widely as you can!
Thank you again for backing our first ever crowdfund right from the start, and ensuring our public appeal has got off to a flying start!
With all best wishes,
Simon
Simon Farley, Head of Fundraising & Development, St George's Bristol
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SOS Bristol has reached £10,000 – thank you!
An update for Safer off the Streets - Help Bristol's homeless night shelters
Dec 6 2016
What an amazing achievement – the #SOSBristol campaign has reached over £10,000 in donations to help Bristol’s Night Shelters this winter. Another huge thank you to everyone who has pledged.
We’ve also been lucky to have a couple of high profile tweets about the campaign from supporters Simon Pegg and Will Self, meaning #SOSBristol has been shared with over 6 million followers! Of course, there is still a way to go to reach that £100,000 target over the coming months, so please - keep sharing and spreading the word.
If you’re interested in volunteering this winter, Caring at Christmas would love to hear from you! They need 500+ volunteers over the Christmas week, so if you can spare some time to help spread a little cheer this Christmas, please visit www.caringatchristmas.org.uk/volunteering for more information.
If you are concerned about someone who is sleeping rough please contact StreetLink via www.streetlink.org.uk
Thank you again from all at Safer off the Streets for your incredible support.
#SOSBristol
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Thank you from SENDaWelcome
An update for A community-building social for children with special needs and their families
Dec 6 2016
Dear supporter,
Thank you for funding SENDaWelcome's first social event last Sunday. We had a wonderful afternoon of music, adventure, creativity and play! It was exactly as we had hoped with a great turn-out. We want to build on the success of the event and continue to ensure we have a platform by which our children with SEND can be heard and seen in our community, in the same way their non-SEND peers can.
In January 2017 we will be running workshops for children to produce creative work that we will display as part of the local Window Wanderland (http://www.windowwanderland.com/). We will keep you posted about the date and venue for this.
Please also show your support by following us on Facebook and Twitter. We have pictures of the event there to enjoy!
Many thanks and all the best,
The SENDaWelcome Team.
(Julie, Viviana, Maria, Daniella and Katarina).
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Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol Public Meeting 7th December at 7.30pm
An update for Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol
Dec 1 2016
What a year it has been! Join us for our final public meeting of the year on 7th December at 7:30pm.
--Are you wondering what happens now that the camp in Calais is gone? 
--Would you like to be involved in providing ongoing support for refugees and aid organisations in France? --What can be done to support children being settled in Bristol?--Would you like to take on a regular role as a volunteer in the CRSB coordinating group? We need help with admin, comms and volunteer coordination.We want to share our strategy going forward, our plans for the new year (both in France and in Bristol) and to recruit some volunteers who can help with admin and communications work.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS! 7:30pm on Weds 7th December at The Palestine Museum, 27, Broad Street, Bristol.
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Thank you for the Safer off the Streets support so far!
An update for Safer off the Streets - Help Bristol's homeless night shelters
Nov 30 2016
From all at Safer of the Streets, we want to say an enormous thank you for all of your support of our campaign so far.
In only a few days we already raised £6,000 from you all, so that we can provide a safe and supportive place for 353 people away from the street, which is incredible. We still have a long way to go so that we can cover three months of night shelter spaces – please keep sharing!
The achievement of raising so much in three days is testament to the compassion that is here in and for our city. We are loving watching the donations flood in. Your support really does help keep a rough sleeper warm and safe off the streets while trained staff work and volunteers support them with longer term goals. The night shelters are just the beginning.
Bristol update - You will no doubt have noticed that the weather has got particularly cold, dipping below freezing for a number of nights now. Because of this it has been a particularly busy few days for the charities across the city. The severe emergency weather procedure (SWEP) was implemented at the beginning of the week. This means that additional shelter has been put in place to get as many people off the streets as we can. While the weather is so cold, it can become an immediate life or death situation for people on the streets. Bristol City Council support SWEP and we rely on the goodwill of existing homelessness services to open up their communal lounges in order to ensure survival while people are additionally vulnerable.
If you are concerned about someone who is sleeping rough please contact StreetLink via www.streetlink.org.uk
Thank you again from all at Safer off the Streets for your incredible support.
#SOSBristol