This Christmas, Pledge Your Tree in Solidarity

Homelessness isn’t just about finding shelter—it’s about finding hope, healing, and a path forward. This holiday season, The Marie Trust invites you to pledge the cost of your Christmas tree in solidarity. Leave a message for us to decorate our tree with messages of kindness and donations to fuel life-changing services for those most in need.

A Legacy of Transformative Impact

Although we’re one of Glasgow’s smallest homeless charities, our impact is enormous. Every day, 90 individuals walk through our doors seeking urgent support and a chance to rebuild their lives. Each year, we support over 2,000 people to access the help they need when they need it the most to heal and with the care and tools they need to move away from homelessness.

Here’s how your support has helped shape lives over the years:

2009 - Crisis Intervention Service

The Crisis Intervention Service was designed to address urgent needs through early intervention from the moment of engagement. People can self-refer and walk in directly off the streets, gaining immediate access to our support services. Our intervention team serves as a gateway, providing quick referrals and an immediate response to the challenges that people face that day. Depending on individual needs, we offer both short-term, immediate responses and longer-term, intensive support.

In 2023-24, our Crisis Intervention team supported 1,038 individuals, providing house and welfare advice and advocacy for their safety and well-being.

2009

We launched our Education Program, breaking down barriers for people experiencing homelessness. With courses ranging from social sciences to creative arts, we’ve empowered hundreds of people to embrace education as a route to stability. Our partnerships with Glasgow colleges has flourished, offering opportunities unlike any other, with 169 learners undertaking courses up to SCQF level 6. One person shared their experience:

2013

Understanding the deep emotional wounds caused by homelessness, we established our Counselling and Psychotherapy Service tailored for people who are homeless. By removing access significant barriers in accessing therapy, we’ve brought healing to countless individuals navigating trauma and uncertainty. This service has been life-changing for many, providing tools for resilience and self-care that help individuals build stability, confidence, and hope for the future. One person shared their experience:

2015

Our commitment to wellbeing grew with us gaining The Healthy Living Plus Award Service, addressing the link between homelessness and malnutrition. This commitment evolved to include the Healthy Living Café & Barista and Training Kitchen, where nutritionally balanced meals are provided to individuals facing food poverty. In 2023-24 alone, these services reached 2,164 people in need. Through the training kitchen we educate people on salts, fats, preservatives, how to chop vegetables, how to cook basic meals, bulk cooking and food hygiene; best before dates, and how to maximise what food they have to make meals. Most of the people we support do not cook or budget shop. This is mainly due to fuel poverty, lack of amenities, motivation, lack of finances, and living on their own. It takes a lot of motivation to begin menu planning, and we aim to be realistic and teach those skills one step at a time.

Beyond serving meals, the café and kitchen are also vital for skill-building; 55 individuals with lived experience of homelessness and food poverty are involved in delivering the service, developing essential life skills and building pathways toward employment.

2016-19

We build on our learning and employed a Dietician to take our health inequalities work forward. Through dietetic support people began to talk about their previous trauma and how they believed it had impacted their eating habits, leading to disorder eating patterns and poor relationship with food. Lack of appetite is strongly associated with depression and anxiety, this coupled with trauma and a lack of understanding of nutritional requirements means that the people we support are extremely vulnerable to malnutrition and diet-related disease.

2019-2022

We pioneered an MOT Outreach Social Prescribing Service. This innovative program tackled health inequalities head-on, ensuring people disengaged from traditional services had access to vital healthcare, welfare and social support and delivered this across Glasgow in homeless accommodations and following people wherever they were to prevent hospital admission, loneliness and isolation.

2023

We officially opened our new Albion St hub to create a holistic approach to address poverty and provided a walk in off the streets direct access to trauma informed services, with counselling rooms, training kitchen, education suite and digital café.

2024

We introduced the Digital Literacy Project to improve digital inclusion and literacy for individuals at risk of drug-related harm. Launched in January 2024, the project teaches reading and digital skills, equipping participants to connect with support services, understand prescriptions, and access online health and benefits support. Many individuals we support have slipped through educational gaps and never had the chance to develop reading skills.

To bridge critical gaps in support for homeless patients, we also launched a Hospital Outreach Pilot. Based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Stobhill, and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, this initiative provides on-ward housing and welfare support for patients who are homeless or at risk, with continued community resettlement support after discharge. One participant reflected on the support they received:

The impact has been remarkable: only 13% of the patients we supported through this service have been readmitted to hospital. Among those who had no fixed abode, we’ve seen a 61% decrease in rough sleeping, and a 56% increase in people moving into permanent tenancies. This program is transforming lives by creating pathways to lasting stability, breaking the cycle of homelessness for some of Glasgow’s most vulnerable individuals.

Why We Need Your Help

Every program we’ve built reflects our belief that homelessness is complex and life changing – this should never be the case, everyone deserves better. The impact homeliness has on peoples live expectancy is often overlooked. For a lot of people, we support they are dealing with pain that is often unbearable.

To continue this critical work, we need your support. Our team tackles some of the most complex and challenging issues faced by people experiencing homelessness by providing practical, problem-solving solutions that include planned pathways and high-level support. Glasgow has a housing emergency, being there to advocate and represent people’s rights has never been more important to ensure that they do not slip through the net.

This Christmas, your tree can become a symbol of compassion. Decorate it with heartfelt messages and donations from friends, family, or colleagues, helping us ensure no one is left behind.

Let’s make this season one of hope and healing for Glasgow’s most vulnerable.

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