Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I will be wild swimming every day and on the night of the full moon in January, a Dip a Day, that's 31 days, hoping to raise £31 a day and to raise awareness and support for people homeless over the cold winter months.  There are so many stories behind homelessness, each the story of a human life being lived.  Survival through the cold winter months without shelter, food, support and with health problems is challenging. Shelters such as Oxford Homeless Pathways typically have more visitors as temperatures drop in the winter.

Having past personal experience of homelessness as well as supporting people through homelessness professionally, this is close to my heart, and it can affect all of us.  Life challenges come to us all and without the shelter and security of a home it can be incredibly challenging to work these through.  The current state of the world leaves many homeless. £31 per day I am hoping to raise will offer 31 hot meals, one hot meal a day for one person for January 2017 and 2018.

People become and stay homeless for complex and overlapping reasons. Solving homelessness is about much more than putting a roof over people's heads. Many homeless people face a number of issues in addition to, but often compounded by, their homelessness. The isolation and destructive nature of homelessness means that homeless people find it difficult to access the help they need. Many homeless people do not show up in official statistics at all.  At worst, homelessness can mean sleeping rough on the streets. The problems of homelessness can extend way beyond rough sleeping.  Sleeping rough can be a dangerous and traumatising experience. Many people who sleep rough will suffer from multiple health conditions, such as mental health difficulties and drug and substance misuse, and they are also in greater danger of violence than the general population. It is difficult to get an absolute figure for the number of people sleeping rough. One reason for this is that, in order to protect themselves, many rough sleepers hide themselves away in places where they might be difficult to find and this is especially true for women.

Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness in Oxford

£1 will provide a homeless person with a hot meal

£5 will buy a towel for use in the Shelters

£30 will buy bedding for the Shelters

£100 will help people back into employment

£250 will buy 10 sleeping bags and roll mats for emergency bedding for rough sleepers

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/14979138.CHRISTMAS_APPEAL__Cash_boost_for_homeless_crisis_as_donations_flood_in/?commentSort=score

Implications for the Future

Last month, Oxfordshire County Council announced more than 200 beds for the homeless would go when Simon House Hostel in Paradise Street and OxHop accommodation Julian Housing in Collins Street are ‘decommissioned’ by April 2018 because of £1.5m cuts over the next three years. It means 154 out of 286 beds in the county will be still be scrapped – despite the county council, all five district councils, and the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group chipping in to provide £2.94m until 2019.  For charity OxHop, the cuts mean 83 beds it provides through Julian Housing accommodation in Oxford are at risk of closure in 2017.

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If you have got this far you are amazing. Thankyou so much for reading this and wishing you a safe and peaceful winter.

All best wishes

Helen