Get involved with our new campaign and help us make a difference
Here at Gloucestershire Nightstop, we pride ourselves in helping and supporting young homeless people take the next steps to a positive future through housing with our brilliant volunteers and providing facilities to help them develop and progress into adulthood.
As of 2021, figures show that over 800 young people are homeless in the county due to a breakdown in relationship with their parents. We believe that no one should be living on the streets, least of all our young people and so our Christmas campaign is aimed at recruiting new hosts and volunteers to help us carry on our crucial work to help those in need. Whether you can volunteer for one of our services, act as a host for a young person or simply make a donation, together we can make a difference.
So how can you get involved? Here are 5 ways you can support us in our plight to provide young people with the resources and homes that they need.
1.Volunteer as a ShortStop Host
Our hosts are available for emergency night by night accommodation for homeless young people. You could make a huge difference to a young person’s life by giving up your spare room and allowing them into your safe environment. Sometimes, all a young person needs is support and a bed for the night to feel that better things are to come and our hosts feel a real sense of community and reward for the help they have provided for our young people.
2.Become a LongStop Host
These Hosts provide longer term supported lodging placements to homeless young people. This initiative was founded in light of the ongoing housing crisis, which has resulted in our young people needing to wait longer for suitable independent accommodation to become available.
So what is the difference between emergency ShortStop and long-term LongStop accommodation? Emergency accommodation allows a young person a bed for the night in the safe, supportive home of a volunteer host. A young person will be given a room of their own for the night, an evening meal, breakfast, access to wash and laundry facilities and a friendly host. Long-term accommodation allows a young person to stay with our hosts for up to one year, supplying them with a private room and shared facilities when they cannot return home for whatever reason. Long-term cases are supported with our Nightstop support workers, to enable them to go back to school/college, go into employment or set them up to be able to live alone. They learn to budget, shop for food, cook and clean, helping significantly with future prospects.
3.Become a befriender
Befrienders are part of our befriending service and work with our young people on a one-to-one basis. Our befriending service involves the development of a friendly relationship with a young person, supporting them for a prolonged amount of time on an informal level. A befriender encourages their young person to make positive changes in life and supports them through important moments. Our befriending service is made up of people who have experienced homelessness and can support from their own real world experience.
If this sounds like something you can provide for a young person and feel you have the skills to do so, there is more information on our website.
4.Volunteer as one of our drivers
If hosting doesn’t seem feasible for you, we are always looking for volunteer drivers to transport our young people between hosting households.. Our drivers are one of the first people our young people meet when being transported to one of our hosts, so a warm and friendly welcome is vital to put the young person at ease and make them feel as comfortable as possible. We understand that during the current climate it can be a concern for drivers to be using as much fuel and so we cover the expenses of transporting young people to their respective host households.
5.Take part in some fundraising
If the previous points aren’t a viable option, why not take part in some fundraising to help support us as a charity. This could be in the form of a sponsored sport activity, a community quiz night or even by holding a raffle. It takes several hundreds of thousands to ensure the charity can keep providing services and so any help in the form of donation is deeply appreciated.
The money you raise can go towards the cost of housing a young person for the night, covering expenses for our drivers and offering ongoing support for our young people as they move through the next steps in their lives.
If any of these sound like something that you would like to get involved with then head to our website for more information and to sign up to our volunteer programme.