Stockport Express Update 07-12-16

Jonathan Billings Project Manager The Wellspring

We would like to express our thanks to everyone who has made donations to our two Christmas campaigns. Both have been really successful so far but it’s not too late to donate! On Sunday 4^th December we hosted the Rucksack project for the 4^th year, this has grown and grown every year. The Rucksack project encourages people to donate practical items to street homeless people in order to make that experience of sleeping rough on the streets a little more comfortable. People pack rucksacks with warm clothing, basic toiletries and a sleeping bag and donate them to The Wellspring. We have received hundreds of donations and will be distributing these to anyone who finds themselves sleeping on the streets over the next 12 months. We have received such fantastic support from so many members of the public and organisations in Stockport, Stockport people really are incredibly generous and I am always blown away by the support people give us.

Our second Christmas campaign is our Christmas Dinner campaign. For every donation of £5 we will provide someone in need with a full Christmas dinner and a gift. The Wellspring is open 365 days a year and we provide a meal service to around 150 people per day. We will be hosting numerous festive meals over the Christmas period with a dinner served every day from 11.30am to 2pm. anyone and everyone over 18 is welcome at The Wellspring. You don’t have to be homeless, we have no criteria for accessing the service. Please don’t be alone this Christmas, please come along to Wellspring and enjoy a Christmas dinner. Donations to the Christmas dinner campaign can be made via our website thewellspring.co.uk, in person at the project on Harvey St in the town centre, via the links on our facebook page or by texting XMSD16£5 to 70070. All donations will be spent on providing festive meals and support services to people in need at The Wellspring.

Staff from Big Yellow Self Storage supporting The Rucksack Project

Big Yellow Self Storage at portwood roundabout are great supporters of The Rucksack project and have just increased the amount of storage space that they donate to The Wellspring so we can store all our rucksacks and sleeping bags that will be used over the next 12 months. We first become involved with Big Yellow a few years ago when a young lady was rough sleeping near the Big Yellow facility. Big Yellow got in touch with us and asked if we could help.  Over a few months we managed to get this young lady off the streets and rehoused as well as addressing other issues that she had. Getting information from local businesses and members of the public is so important to us. Once we are aware of the location of someone rough sleeping we can then visit and provide assistance. If you are aware of the location of anyone sleeping rough in Stockport please get in touch with the staff team at The Wellspring on 0161-4776344 or email jonathan@thewellspring.co.uk or use the contact form on www.thewellspring.co.uk