Glass Door are seeking donations to their Christmas Appeal so that they can make ‘room at the inn’ for people affected by homelessness and provide them with their own room. Due to the pandemic Glass Door are having to launch new more costly services this Christmas and therefore the goal for their campaign to cover December’s costs is almost £125,000, which is higher than ever before. Never have they needed support more.
The charity usually operates a rotating service of communal shelters which are open every day during the winter, including Christmas. Unfortunately, this year, due to the pandemic and the high risk of contagion in shared sleeping spaces, the communal winter shelters can’t open. As a result Glass Door has adapted its services and is now able to provide individual rooms to 92 of their guests who can stay 24 hours a day, seven days a week in hostel-like accommodation in Central London. The cost to provide someone with their own room and three meals is £30 a day.
They are also running a community dinner service with the support of a network of more than 30 churches who cook and provide volunteers. The service provides a hot meal to anyone in need, with guests having ranged in age from 18 to 93. “It’s the first hot meal I’ve eaten since March” one guest commented.
Through these specially adapted and COVID-compliant services, guests can also access support from the Glass Door dedicated caseworkers, health checks and other essentials such as toiletries, socks and gloves.
While the new services are safer, they are also more costly. Glass Door are lucky to have more than enough volunteers but need £123,876 to cover December’s costs of providing 90 guests with their own rooms and meals and the hot meal community dinner service for 120 people every evening. www.glassdoor.org.uk
