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COVID-19

We need your support now, more than ever.

Hello,

We need your support more than ever because whilst you are in the relative safety of your home, isolated and protected, those experiencing homelessness are at great risk and extremely vulnerable.

This is perhaps one of the most important letters that I have ever had to write. We are in unprecedented times with the COVID-19 pandemic having a profound effect on everyone and all the things we take for granted. Like a home to call our own, a sofa to put our feet up on, friends and family.

The team at Caring in Bristol are working at maximum capacity to help avert a catastrophe for vulnerable people in our community. Our services are adapting and changing in the face of continual uncertainty, but we are keeping the needs of those without homes and a safety net at the very front of what we do with their needs more exposed than ever before.

Services in Bristol have become strained, some to the point of closure but Caring in Bristol remain committed to being there for our city’s most vulnerable and we will do whatever we can to ensure those people who need our support get it.

Our 365 shelter continues to provide safety and support to all of our guests, and we are quickly looking at how we can expand out our provision further, including launching a pop-up youth shelter and creating spaces where people can self-isolate or that can be accessed in the day time.

With adversity comes innovation and we are working hard to launch a new food takeaway and delivery service, Cheers Drive, to get nutritious food out to those people experiencing homelessness that would otherwise be hungry or even too unwell to get food. We will be teaming up with our friends from Bristol’s hospitality industry, because we think it’s important to collaborate and support one another in times like these. Many of the traditional services to those in food poverty rely on public gatherings, we will be working within our community and with community partners to take this service to where it is needed most. It is safe and it is vital.

We also realise that timely and correct information is now more valuable than ever. So we have created our Facebook COVID-19 Mutual-Aid group to do just that, reaching outwards to all of our community and inspiring partnership and cohesion of services within the city. We have also created a special COVID-19 edition of the Caring Handbook that is being rapidly printed for distribution to help vulnerable people in our community access the help and support they desperately need now. We are also posting live updates on our Bristol Homeless Connect website daily. Because correct communication is key to saving lives.

We will continue to work with partner charities and organisations in the city to help fill gaps and support services that are under strain.

We believe it’s important as a charity to become more visible than ever and rise to the needs of our community, but we require your help to achieve this. By supporting vulnerable people in your community, you will be saving lives.

By giving a generous gift of £100 you could be providing over 100 meals at our emergency food service, Cheers Drive. A gift of £50 would provide 5 nights of shelter and care in our 365 Shelter for someone who’s extremely vulnerable. By donating £25 you could provide 20 COVID-19 edition Caring Handbooks to those in immediate need giving them the advice and guidance they require.

Visit www.caringinbristol.co.uk/donate to leave your gift and make a difference to someone in your community during this crisis.

Thank you for your continued support

Ben Richardson

Charity Director

Homeless & Need Help?