Shekinah receives £40,000 to help homeless women

Posted: 26th September 2017

Shekinah, a charity helping vulnerable people across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, has been awarded a grant of £40,000. This grant will help fund the role of a Specialist Women’s Homelessness Project Worker at their Plymouth Drop-In Centre.

Shekinah supports people experiencing a wide range of problems such as homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, offending and mental ill health. As well as providing food, clothing and showers; the charity helps people overcome their issues through advice, counselling, education and helping them get back into training or employment.

Skekinah are working to improve support for homeless women

Through their work, Shekinah have discovered a lack of services in Plymouth which are taylored to supporting homeless women; yet women in this vulnerable position often face even greater challenges than their male counterparts. Many of the women supported by Shekinah are fleeing abuse, or have disabilities, mental health problems or substance abuse issues. Other women are “hidden homeless” who remain in abusive relationships rather than face living on the streets. An estimated 30% of female rough sleepers have been sexually assaulted in the past year and 60% threatened with violence.

The project worker will directly support  homeless women and help them access Shekinah’s services. The worker will also help Shekinah and its partner organisations better understand how we can make services easier to access for some of the Plymouth’s most vulnerable women.

Laura Fraser-Crewes Head of Ops & Client Support of Shekinah said:

“We are very grateful to Devonshire Freemasons for their generous grant which will help us in our work with women who historically have not received the services they deserve”

Devonshire Freemason, Ian Kingsbury, visited the charity to find out more about their work:

“We are delighted to be able to help Shekinah who provide vital support for homeless & endangered women, an especially neglected group in our community.”

Watch this video to find out how this grant will impact homeless women in the Plymouth area

 




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Homeless charity NOAH receives £45,000

Posted: 6th June 2017

NOAH, a charity that supports homeless and other vulnerable people in one of the most deprived areas of the country, has been awarded a grant of £45,000

NOAH Enterprise (New Opportunities and Horizons) runs an award winning Welfare Centre in Luton. The charity finds accommodation for those who are homeless, provides hot meals, health services, washing facilities and specialist advice on key topics such as immigration and finance.

The charity runs an Outreach Team, Resettlement Service, Emergency Winter Shelter, a Social Enterprise, and the Academy training centre, aiming to provide a truly holistic pathway to recovery for its growing number of clients, who have doubled in number in the last 12 months.

This grant will fund a Welfare Support Worker who will support more than 800 clients annually. The Centre, which is open 365 days a year, accepted 486 new referrals to its Welfare Support service last year alone.

The Worker will  help clients address the underlying problems in their lives, develop individual support plans to help find accommodation, manage money and deal with physical and mental health needs, including addiction.

Jim O’Connor MBE, Chief Executive of NOAH, said:

We are very grateful to Bedfordshire Freemasons for their generous grant which will help us to help hundreds of the most vulnerable people in the county. Our services have never been needed so much as they are right now

John Carter of Bedfordshire Freemasons, said:

“We are very pleased to be able to help NOAH, who do really excellent work with some of the most vulnerable people in the county.”

 

 




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