Bags of Kindness - Small-Steps Charity Project 2019-2020
What is Bags of Kindness?
We asked Martin Webster from Friends of West End Park, a registered charity in Bradford, UK about this project and this is what he told us:
"For the past couple of years we have collected hats and socks for the Homeless. We wanted to provide a care-package that could easily be carried on the streets and delivered directly to the point of need. Through the summer of 2019 we conducted research with local groups who worked with homelessness and identified that much of what we thought we knew wasn’t born out by the evidence.
1. That the actual numbers of rough sleepers (as a part of the total ‘Homeless’) were smaller than we expected. (So a small input can have a big effect)
2. That reaching new rough sleepers on the first night was critical to reducing their time ‘out’ and thus their survival rate
3. That the time immediately after Christmas when it gets colder and there is less ‘goodwill’ is the most needy
4. Small towns have less resource than cities 5. That woman represent 5% of the total but are more vulnerable and yet harder to find and help.
5. That it is not necessary to provide Male and Female-specific help. The issue of Female sanitary products is a minefield but represents the best opportunity to open up dialogue and is actually already catered for by period poverty charities and existing funding.
6. That much donation like the ‘Shoebox’ type involves a charity in lots of extra work, opening and checking the contents, at least half of which has to be thrown away as useless or unverifiable.
7.Food is not the issue. Agencies are so well-organised now that free food is available almost everywhere, indeed in Bradford, for example it is possible to eat for free every day of the week without going to the same place twice.
8. That self-respect is a very important part of surviving and eventually stabilising a chaotic life.
9. Each local Authority has a Policy on Rough sleeping and Homelessness which is sometimes impenetrably couched in ‘council-speak’ but yet contains the best guess on the size of the issue and also names the local agencies most directly concerned.
As a result of this we made a list of items that the ‘ground troops’ suggested and filled a test batch of bags that we presented to a group of homeless workers and end-users and modified the contents and indeed, the type of bag itself. We operate on the principle that we will only use new items (partly for the reason of self-respect on behalf of the receiver) that we have checked for suitability so that they can be immediately used with no further checking. We try to find areas of need wherever we personally travel around the country for work or leisure so that we can make the most difference"
Small Steps Funding: 100 Bags of Kindness (£900)
100 bags and individual items were sourced from funding recieved from Small-Steps Charity. A packing event was help at the local library and the bags were distributed to the organisations who worked directly on the street with rough sleepers.
List of groups we donated the bags (Total 100 bags)
Homeless Outreach, SIAS, Solihull
Harrogate Homeless Project Ltd, Harrogate
Batley Homeless Project, Dewsbury
Hampers for Homeless, Leeds
The Wellspring, Stockport
Vulnerable Citizen Support, Leeds
We asked Martin Webster from Friends of West End Park, a registered charity in Bradford, UK about this project and this is what he told us:
"For the past couple of years we have collected hats and socks for the Homeless. We wanted to provide a care-package that could easily be carried on the streets and delivered directly to the point of need. Through the summer of 2019 we conducted research with local groups who worked with homelessness and identified that much of what we thought we knew wasn’t born out by the evidence.
1. That the actual numbers of rough sleepers (as a part of the total ‘Homeless’) were smaller than we expected. (So a small input can have a big effect)
2. That reaching new rough sleepers on the first night was critical to reducing their time ‘out’ and thus their survival rate
3. That the time immediately after Christmas when it gets colder and there is less ‘goodwill’ is the most needy
4. Small towns have less resource than cities 5. That woman represent 5% of the total but are more vulnerable and yet harder to find and help.
5. That it is not necessary to provide Male and Female-specific help. The issue of Female sanitary products is a minefield but represents the best opportunity to open up dialogue and is actually already catered for by period poverty charities and existing funding.
6. That much donation like the ‘Shoebox’ type involves a charity in lots of extra work, opening and checking the contents, at least half of which has to be thrown away as useless or unverifiable.
7.Food is not the issue. Agencies are so well-organised now that free food is available almost everywhere, indeed in Bradford, for example it is possible to eat for free every day of the week without going to the same place twice.
8. That self-respect is a very important part of surviving and eventually stabilising a chaotic life.
9. Each local Authority has a Policy on Rough sleeping and Homelessness which is sometimes impenetrably couched in ‘council-speak’ but yet contains the best guess on the size of the issue and also names the local agencies most directly concerned.
As a result of this we made a list of items that the ‘ground troops’ suggested and filled a test batch of bags that we presented to a group of homeless workers and end-users and modified the contents and indeed, the type of bag itself. We operate on the principle that we will only use new items (partly for the reason of self-respect on behalf of the receiver) that we have checked for suitability so that they can be immediately used with no further checking. We try to find areas of need wherever we personally travel around the country for work or leisure so that we can make the most difference"
Small Steps Funding: 100 Bags of Kindness (£900)
100 bags and individual items were sourced from funding recieved from Small-Steps Charity. A packing event was help at the local library and the bags were distributed to the organisations who worked directly on the street with rough sleepers.
List of groups we donated the bags (Total 100 bags)
Homeless Outreach, SIAS, Solihull
Harrogate Homeless Project Ltd, Harrogate
Batley Homeless Project, Dewsbury
Hampers for Homeless, Leeds
The Wellspring, Stockport
Vulnerable Citizen Support, Leeds
