Urgently Needed Resources - We are using up our resources of cash, food and clothing at a phenomenal rate and we need your help to keep pace.

All money raised will go straight to where its needed most and 100% of your donation will be used by our front line staff to directly help people who are homeless.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented us with the greatest challenge weve ever seen. For the people we support it could be devastating: having nowhere to self isolate, already being in poor health and having desperate needs which means they may put themselves, and others, at greater risk of cross infection. The people we support have experienced the homelessness services landscape they rely upon to get through each day shrink dramatically. The places they go, the crucial support they rely upon has largely disappeared and they are scared of the current reality they are faced with.

The food provision they knew is gone. The clothing providers they relied upon are gone. The shower and laundry facilities they need have all but disappeared. The social networks and lifeline services they need cant continue. We understand the reasons for this, but when you are already deeply traumatised and navigating a complex homelessness system this seems hopeless

We are doing everything we can to give people the chance to be safe, our street team in Edinburgh and Glasgow continue to reach out day and night to people, our already full accommodation services remain open 24/7, our Advice Hubs continue to support and guide people towards help, and from today, we are opening emergency accommodation with hoteliers and the support of the Scottish Government.

The pressure on our resources is huge, as many of our own staff have to self isolate. We are over recruiting so that we have more staff to help. We're also asking our incredible volunteers to come work for us for three months and we're redeploying our most experienced staff to where the need is greatest.

We are using up our resources of cash, food and clothing at a phenomenal rate and we need your help to keep pace. If you can donate cash that would be fantastic, all money raised will go into a fund specifically for the corona crisis period.

Examples of your donations could help are:

Kettle Food Parcels - will allow us to purchase a variety of dried foods for people who dont have cooking facilities to make sure no-one goes hungry.

Pyjamas and Underwear - will allow us to provide touches of dignity to people who come into our accommodation services.

Toiletries - will allow us to help people feel just that little bit better, uplifted and clean.

3G Text and Call Phones - will allow us to connect daily with people who really need our help.

Food

We're lucky in that many people are donating food and ensuring people don't go hungry. What we'd like to do is ensure that those people who are self isolating have snacks and nibbles that can help them stay safe and comfortable. What we're short of is kettle food, noodles, porridge pots and soups together with snack bars, biscuits and protein bars. Simple things that can offer some comfort.

Clothing

Many of the people we support will arrive with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. We have plenty of really great clothing we can help people with but we are short of underwear, pyjamas, dressing gowns and slippers.

Mobile Phones

We need to be able to keep in contact with people without always being there face to face. We are using cheap phones that we can give to people so they can call us and we can keep in touch with them. The cost is only £15 and that is with a £10 top up but we need at least 100, so suddenly the cost s £1500. We are asking for donations of cash for top ups and purchase of phones and donations of any unlocked phones we can deploy into services.

Personal Protective Equipment PPE

Like most places we are really short of disposable gloves, antibacterial gel, aprons and masks of which we have none. If anyone can help with any of these products they will be immediately utilised in our accommodation services, protecting staff and residents so we can continue to deliver the service.

Toiletries

The Hotels we're commissioning have shampoo and shower gel but what they don't have and what our clients won't have are things like; toothbrush and paste, sanitary products, comb/brush, razor/foam, body spray or aftershave, hair bobbles/scrunchy, nail clippers and deodorant.