Ripon YMCA is a local independent charity and housing
association.

They provide Supported Housing to young people aged between 16
and 35 who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or are vulnerable. We also have a hall and lounge which is usually used by community groups and clubs.

Lucy the CEO says: 

Our charity is particularly challenged at the moment due to
Coronavirus. We have 15 young people in our 19 rooms at the moment, and our community space is closed.

Many of our young people have little or no contact with
their family. They are currently social distancing alone with the support of staff and volunteers. Many of our young people have mental health difficulties. We have significant concerns about the impact this crisis will have on their well-being.

The reasons we are asking people to support us:

We are not running to capacity to protect those living with
us and our staff.

We have lost all income from our Community Hall bookings and
groups.

We are developing additional services and supporting our
tenants in many creative ways. For example, buying well-being packs with magazines, art materials and puzzles for our tenants to keep them busy.

We are providing our tenants with additional resources
(food, cleaning products, hand gel etc.)

We have seen our income drop considerably. Please help us at
this difficult time so we can be a resilient charity and bounce back to support you and your community.

We are already thinking about the future and will develop
our mental health training and hopefully introduce peer support groups to help our community.

For more information about our work please contact Lucy our
CEO on lucy@riponymca.org