FRIENDS OF ESSEX & LONDON HOMELESS
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : t*******h@g***l.c*m
Mission Statement
We are a registered charity that helps people who are homeless, vulnerable or struggling with the cost of living crisis , and we try to make a difference however small to anyone who needs a helping hand and a friendly face as kindness is contagious and we always encourage anyone who is struggling to speak to us and not to be embarrassed as we all need a little help every now and then
About This Cause
We are a homeless charity called Friends of Essex & London Homeless( FOELH) We started in December 2016 with myself (Steven) and Cheryl and have grown to 30 plus volunteers and became a registered charity (1178366) in May 2018 We are currently non funded and rely totally on donations from our followers on Face book, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and our Website. We have 4 Greggs stores in Grays South Ockendon, Hornchurch, Elm Park and a local bakery in Upminster who donate unsold food items to us every Tuesday & Thursday that we collect and use at the soup kitchens. We also fundraise with quiz nights, mediumship nights, afternoon tea, events and regular boot sales as these generate much needed funds We also have an Amazon wish list which people can choose what they donate to us We attend Charing Cross every Wednesday evening come rain or shine and serve around 250 plus hot dishes, sandwiches, cakes, drinks, soups, toiletries , clean clothes and sleeping bags etc. We have also started a soup kitchen in the local area of Grays Thurrock after a local church contacted us to see if it was a possibility,we have been helping our local community since 7th December 2018 and have seen a steady increase in people/families each and every week, ( 30-40 peopl/families with children) and alongside our outreach we run a foodbank for anyone in need We are also available 24 hours a day to help with any local homeless people in the surrounding areas of Purfleet, Grays, Orsett, Stanford le Hope , Hornchurch ,Aveley , Rainham ,Dagenham , Upminster ,Brentwood, Harold Hill, Harold Wood, Romford and Elm Park We work with outside agencies ensuring that everyone who needs any help at all has the opportunity to engage We have come across many ex service men and women especially in London who we support and signpost all homeless people or vulnerable people to relevant organisations that maybe able to assist them but we supply them with any items they need for the short term, we also try to supply as many mobile phones and top ups as financially possible as this is sometimes their only form of contact with family and organisations that can help them We met a couple called Mick and Claire back in January 2017 and whilst living on the streets with our help and encouragement they are now off the streets and in a flat but still come to see us each week and volunteer their services and we continue to support them with food and clothing and household items they have needed over the year to setup home One example locally of how we go above and beyond was in Hornchurch where we helped one guy to get into a hostel, we worked closely with Havering Homeless Housing Team to get him a room, we also arranged with WPD a drug and alcohol centre in Romford for him to get onto a drug rehabilitation programme and we attended these sessions with him to give him the support he needed. We also went to many hospital, Metal health assessment's and doctors appointment's with him The above case is not an isolated case, we as a team have and are continuing to help a few guys who are in similar situations get back on their feet and support them as much as we can with items require,care,love and a shoulder to cry on We show them humanity and let them know someone cares and with our support and their determination they can turn their life around. We have also cubs, scouts and like minded organisations to give talks and run a programme where we re create a homeless situation to demonstrate to the pupils what could happen and educate them We are also visited a local group in Chelmsford who work with young adults with learning difficulties as they are donating care bags and we will also show them how we will distribute them to the guys on the streets Each week is a challenge and we have to work extremely hard to find and generate funds, all this is done on a volunteer basis and all funds can them be used towards our weekly needs We have a number of schools who also donate their harvests festival items. Our long term goal is to purchase a bigger vehicle that covers the new ULEZ law and this will enable us help in more areas more often. Also to have our own premises as we currently operate out of 2 garages which is not ideal especially when we are trying to keep the items donated clean and dry when sorting. We have partnership with Envirowaste, Greggs, Simply Insurance, Preston’s Village Bakery, Hattens Solicitors, Magno Cafe who all help support and supply us on a weekly and monthly bases. We are currently also looking for a Patron/Ambassador of our charity. Someone in the public eye who could raise our profile and also would be an active member at our events when possible. Please see below various and a short video taken back in May 2017 whilst the numbers increased the message remains the same. We would love to work with your organisation as you are a local college and we are more than welcome to come along and show staff and pupils what we do. https://youtu.be/dNIPiKaniWQ https://youtu.be/dNIPiKaniWQ I’m