This year has seen St Vincent’s Newcastle flourish as a centre in the heart of the city, meeting the needs of approximately 450 people every week, with numbers growing steadily.

The St Vincent's community is a diverse one, including the homeless, asylum seekers and refugees, people in work struggling to make ends meet, in fact anyone experiencing challenging and life limiting circumstances.

Once immediate needs are met the support for our community extends into a framework of opportunities aimed at helping people move on with their lives and develop new skills.

From ESOL, essential life skills and wellbeing workshops, to focused employment pathways - everyone who comes to the centre has the potential to take part, and the offer grow with dignity, as a valued individual with unique skills to explore and share.

While it’s clear the demand for St Vincent’s services is high, and increasing all the time as the cost of living crisis unfolds, one of the biggest challenges faced by people who desperately want to access these life changing opportunities is painfully simple…

Travelling to the centre on a severely restricted budget - in some cases as little as £1 a day for a whole family - is just unfeasible.

With return travel costs approaching an average of £4 - £5, catching the bus to attend appointments, school, or classes for so many in our community is not an option when the choice is between travel or feeding your family.

While St Vincent’s has always tried to cover travel costs for clients and volunteers, demand is now outstripping the available budget and we desperately need your help.

Our ambition is to raise a whopping 7,000 so we can support as many people as we reach, and make sure no one misses out on life changing opportunities because they can’t afford the bus fare.

Every penny counts, from the cost of a single journey, to a bus full of tickets! Whatever you are able and comfortable in sharing with us is deeply appreciated.

Help someone in our community thrive through adversity and make an impact that lasts a lifetime.

The journey starts here!