This is a wonderful charity which started off with a very humble beginnings, with a group of friends coming together in Hastings to try and make the lives of people sleeping rough a little more bearable. Since then, the charity has grown to an impressive size and has expanded to both Bexhill and Eastbourne. It is now one of the largest charities in the South-East, providing food and support to over 2400 men, women, and children every month.

The charity offers a range of services to those in need which includes:

  • Outreach teams who head out morning and evening directly to the homeless community at their sleep sites or to those vulnerably housed at their emergency or temporary accommodation to bring them food and supplies.
  • Drop-in sessions where people can come along and have a hot meal and have welfare checks from St Johns Ambulance, have a haircut from a barber and their feet checked by a podiatrist.
  • They also have a Canine Ambassador who visits with them to provide flea, worming treatments as well as veterinary care to the dogs of the homeless community.
  • Their Homestart Scheme is an initiative to help and support people in to getting into permanent accommodation.
  • They also have satellite foodbanks which can be access when other foodbanks are closed.

When we decided to start the Community Pledge initiative it was important that we chose charities to support that we felt really helped the people directly within our community and ‘Warming up the homeless’ was an obvious choice.

The work that goes into making all of this happens is quite astonishing. From their fundraising to the preparation of food/ supplies and the immense amount of work it takes to organise all of this really is impressive. The have a wonderful, dedicated team all doing so much for these people in need.

Our Sales Manager in Bexhill, Jo Bartholomew recently met with Trudy one of the organisers at their centre in Bexhill. Jo was absolutely blown away by the scale of the charity and how many people that they help daily. Jo said, “I came away feeling very emotional that there are so many people, both adults and children who are homeless but at the same time delighted that we are supporting such a worthy cause. When I spoke to Trudy about how our donations could help, she advised that £50 can go a long way to provide meals, sleeping bags and essential items and towards being able to provide the drop-in sessions”

For more information on the great work this charity do, check out their website: www.wuth.org where you can also find out how to volunteer and donate money or items.