Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I'll be running the Bristol 10k in order to raise money for 'The Mayor's Fund for Bristol' - charities addressing homelessness in Bristol.

The Fund is aimed at making a significant difference to the every-day lives of people in Bristol facing the challenges and barriers posed by having insecure housing or no housing at all. It will remain focused on homelessness for the next four years, in line with the priorities of the newly established City Office, which is committed to providing both short and long term solutions to the homelessness problems in the city.

The money raised is awarded as grants to charities and social enterprises addressing important social issues in Bristol. All grant decisions are independent of Bristol City Council.

As an immediate response to homelessness in Bristol, the City Office is supporting the Rough Sleeping Partnership’s Safer off the Streets crowd-funding campaign to give a boost to Bristol’s homeless night shelters this winter. Their campaign aims to raise £100,000 to fund more emergency bed spaces this winter. 

While this short-time support offers a safety net for those in crisis over the winter, The Mayor’s Fund aims to develop a long-term strategy, finding and supporting meaningful and innovative solutions to homelessness in Bristol. Find out more at http://quartetcf.org.uk/mayorsfund/

“It is unacceptable that some of our city’s most vulnerable citizens don’t have anywhere to call home. We need to work together to create a society that works for everyone. We’re committed to reducing rough sleeping and all forms of homelessness, but as with many issues we cannot solve this problem alone. There are already considerable partnership efforts directed towards this, but this is a very complex issue and we need to come up with radical solutions to see real change. Street homelessness is just the tip of the iceberg and short terms interventions to help alleviate the problem are vital. However, we also need to invest in longer term initiatives and look at how we can get to the real root causes of homelessness and make a difference where it counts.” - Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Whether it's building homes, making compulsory purchase orders on empty buildings, or unlocking the plots of land that have planning permission but nothing has gone ahead, Marvin and the team at Bristol City Council are trying to deal with the deeper structural issues around the housing crisis in Bristol. Even if I don't manage to raise much money, or run as fast as I'd like, it would be great to highlight the Brilliant work being done at the Council by Marvin and his councillors.

Thanks,

Alex