Our centre off Trafalgar Square is open every day and night of the week. We address people’s practical needs such as food, shelter, healthcare and showers and work to address the causes of people’s homelessness, including mental health problems and substance misuse. We also encourage people to look to the future. We are able to refer people into accommodation and our employment and training centre is proven to get people off the streets and into work. The people who we help include young people who have been in care, ex-offenders, ex-service men and women and those who have simply fallen upon hard times. Joan* suffers from depression. She left her husband and grown children and came to London with no money or possessions. Our outreach workers found her sleeping in a shop doorway on The Strand. Joan is 68 years old. She had been sleeping rough in different areas for some time and at first our workers couldn’t tell whether she was a man or a woman because she was in such a poor state. We offered Joan immediate shelter in our night centre but she was resistant to help at first. Our workers eventually persuaded her to come to our centre, where she was able to have a hot shower and eat a nutritious meal. She had no form of identification so we applied for a copy birth certificate for her and arranged for her to draw her pension. We gave Joan an open referral to our night centre so that she had a safe, warm place to sleep every night until we found suitable accommodation. Two weeks ago she accepted a place at a specialist hostel. Our worker will continue to visit her and we hope to be able to put her back in touch with her family and friends once she is ready. Joan will be given a warm welcome at our centre on Christmas Day. *Name has been changed The average life expectancy of someone living on the streets is 42 This Christmas, we are asking local companies to sponsor one of our 12 days of Christmas so that we can deliver our life-changing services to homeless people. It costs £8,278 to run our centre for one day over Christmas. This will pay for the cost of producing and serving food to 200 people, Christmas activities including arts, engagement, singing and games, staffing costs, accommodation and employment advice sessions, premises and running costs The available days to sponsor are: 22nd December – A Partridge in a Pear Tree 23rd December – 2 Turtle Doves 24th December – 3 French Hens 25th December – 4 Calling Birds 26th December – 5 Gold Rings 27th December – 6 Geese a-laying 28th December – 7 Swans a-swimming 29th December – 8 Maids a-milking 30th December – 9 ladies dancing 3rd January – 10 Lords a-leaping 4th January – 11 Pipers Piping 5th January – 12 Drummers Drumming