On the evening of Friday 22nd March 2024 I will be taking part in "the London Walk". This event is organized by the London Homeless Collective. This walk brings multiple charities working in homelessness to walk together as one.

I will be walking the half marathon route through Central London. The walk starts at The Connection St Martin’s in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in Westminster.

Walking through the night offers an opportunity for reflection on the experience of people who are homeless. Not just people who are forced to sleep on the streets but those who walk through the night, travel on night buses or access 24 hour retail sites in order to stay awake and stay safe. In particular young people, trans people and women, who are all especially vulnerable to violence and exploitation.

I have chosen to raise funds for the charity 'The Connection'. The Connection at St Martin’s is here to be with people as they recover from life on the streets and move on to meaningful, fulfilling futures and a place to call home. They work with people, not for them, and put every individual person at the centre of their recovery.

What can your donation provide?

£25 funds one hour of a caseworker's time

£50 funds a night at a hotel for someone sleeping rough

£100 could fund 4 full initial assessments for newly homeless people, creating their action plans and giving them access to hot nutritious meals, showers, laundry and GP services.

£500 could enable a vulnerable homeless rough sleeper to have a course of specialist one-to-one mental health support sessions which will help them to positively cope with their problems and move forward. Considering that approximately two thirds of homeless people living on the streets have mental health problems which are often severely hindering their ability to move on from the streets, that is a massive contribution. As well as this it could fund 6 full initial assessments for newly homeless people, creating their action plans and giving them access to hot nutritious meals, showers, laundry and GP services.

Interested in learning more about the homelessness charity 'The Connection'? Click here https://www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/what-we-do/