Our Approach to Christmas This Year 2023
We LOVE Christmas at Jungle. It's a time to reflect on our achievements for the year, share positive well-wishes with others and celebrate the incredible work achieved with our partners, clients and colleagues.
Last year, we did away with Christmas presents and pledged to support local charities through donations. We want to ensure Jungle grows sustainably, and part of the growth means we are playing our role in supporting our local and global communities.
Charities we're supporting
Homeless Street Angels are a Leeds-based charity that offers desperately needed outreach within our community, especially at this time of year. The charity works to provide hot and cold food, clean clothes, toiletries, and support with housing applications every week.
Simon on the Streets offers unlimited emotional and practical support for homeless and vulnerable people in Leeds, Bradford, and Kirklees. With a focus on ongoing support, Simon on the Streets provides a long-term safe haven for those struggling with the transition from homelessness to a tenant.
Homeless Hampers started in 2015 with an aim to collect and distribute ‘hampers’ to the homeless for Christmas, containing essentials such as toiletries and chocolate. Since then, they've grown their services, now undertaking weekly outreaches in Leeds, with around 18 volunteers per week distributing in excess of 150 meals, 25 litres of hot drinks and an assortment of essentials such as toiletries, clothing, blankets and sleeping bags.
The Impact
Donations to Homeless Street Angels helps support:
-
Providing over 100 meals to the homeless every week
-
Training staff and volunteers
-
Providing individuals with developing life skills for confidence
-
Raising awareness of the needs of the homeless and socially excluded
Donations to Simon and the Streets helps support:
-
Travel costs for attending housing viewings and benefits appointments with their outreach workers
-
Ensuring clients have emotional and practical support for the long run
-
Providing hot food and drinks to the homeless or vulnerably housed
-
Understanding and tackling the route cause of homelessness
Donations to Homeless Hampers helps support:
-
Help service users to get their lives back on track by accessing information in relation to their social and housing needs.
-
Provide on-going support and advice in life skills and training programmes available to service users
-
Providing hot food and drinks to the homeless or vulnerably housed
-
Development of skills and knowledge of service users that have not had the opportunity to engage in.