This campaign has now closed

Our café serves 65,000 meals to around 5,500 homeless people every year. This includes breakfast, lunch, evening meals and suppers, as well as food and drink for clients who sleep on camp beds in our emergency night centre. They are some of the most vulnerable people in the UK. It is often the main reason people come into our centre, but can also be their first step towards getting people to address the issues which caused their homelessness.

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Categories

  • Community Support & Development Community Support & Development
  • Education/Training/Employment Education/​Training/​Employment
  • Beneficiaries

    • Women & Girls Women & Girls
    • Young People (18-30) Young People (18-30)
    • Other Other

    Situation

    The café provides low cost meals to some of London’s most vulnerable homeless people, including many rough sleepers. Once they have come into the building, clients are able to talk to staff and access support services including counselling, healthcare, education and advice on employment, housing and welfare. This enables us to carry out our primary aim of moving people out of homelessness. For those not ready to move on, the café is a life-supporting service, as well as a place for them to talk with friends, staff and volunteers and begin the process of rehabilitation into society. Poor nutrition is a major issue with homeless people and we are able to tackle this by providing balanced, healthy meals at very low prices. Our experienced staff and dedicated volunteers carry out the labour-intensive task of producing fresh food which meets the nutritional needs of our clients. This is supported by a range of health campaigns, workshops and on-site medical care, ensuring that our clients see a marked improvement in their general health and wellbeing. The Connection at St Martin's is the only organisation for homeless people in central London to provide evening meals and hot meals at weekends. Research has shown that we provide the best quality and most cost effective meals of any service provider in the area (report by Deutsche Bank 2007). It costs £750 a day to run the café. If you would like to sponsor a day in the café, we will be happy to display your name in the café on that day and to acknowledge your support in our annual report.

    Solution

    100%
    Categories

  • Community Support & Development Community Support & Development
  • Education/Training/Employment Education/​Training/​Employment
  • Beneficiaries

    • Women & Girls Women & Girls
    • Young People (18-30) Young People (18-30)
    • Other Other