12 Aug Success for Local Homelessness Charity!
Local charity, FOELH, recently participated in the Hotels That Help 2019 Vote Contest, finishing 4th out of 24 homelessness charities from across the UK. FOELH received almost 500 votes from the local community and were also chosen by the founder of Hotels That Help to receive £500 funding.
The UK is in the midst of a homelessness crisis and has one of the worst homelessness ratios in the whole of Europe. There are now over 130,000 homeless children in the UK, which equates to one for every classroom. Despite this fact, there remains a lack of funding available for the charities and organisations working to address this crisis. Hotels That Help are trying to offer a solution to the funding issue by giving people a way to donate to homelessness charities for free.
Hotels That Help CIC, is the world’s first not-for-profit travel booking website. They have no paid staff, no offices and 100% of the money they make is used to help people escape homelessness. Customers looking to book a trip visit HotelsThatHelp.co.uk and are redirected to an industry-leading provider, such as Booking.com or SkyScanner. When a booking is placed, a donation is generated for a UK homelessness charity at no cost to the customer; there are no booking fees or added costs of any kind.
Founder Thomas Nevitt is determined to make up for the significant lack of funding available to homelessness charities in the UK. “I have seen just how damaging homelessness can be, especially for young families. This is a national problem, which has been getting more serious every year. Far too many [homelessness] charities are struggling to cope with the increased demand for their services. That’s why Hotels That Help was established.” Thomas will be visiting Friends of Essex & London Homeless charity in September to present their award and said, “I chose [FOELH] to receive the funding because of the commitment and dedication exhibited by their team of 30+ volunteers. They’re doing really fantastic work for the community.”
FOELH have been running a soup kitchen since 2016 and now also support the homeless community by providing sleeping bags and other essentials. A spokesman for FOELH said, “we are just normal folk trying to make a difference.” The charity relies entirely on donations and the public’s generosity to continue operations, “I’m not sure how we do it each week, but we do!” The funding is thus warmly welcomed by FOELH and will help with the costs of providing 300 meals a week.
For information on how you can help the homeless community, without making a donation or sacrificing your time, please visit: HotelsThatHelp.co.uk/how
