Charity Partnership

Our partnership with YMCA Lincolnshire

We’re proud to have joined forces with the YMCA Lincolnshire to support their work in helping people get back on their feet following time spent sleeping rough.

YMCA Lincolnshire believes that everyone should have the opportunity to become who they were meant to be. That’s why they do what they do: so that children and families, young people, adults experiencing homelessness, and older people can reach their potential in mind, body and spirit, and in the areas of life which matter most to them.

We have partnered with the YMCA Lincolnshire to focus on the increasing amount of homelessness in our community. Since I first moved to Lincolnshire in 2011, there has been a rapid increase in the number of people sleeping rough in Lincoln and with the current economic factors, this is only set to increase.

They provide support for single adults aged 18 and over with a range of multiple and complex needs who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, focusing on supporting their residents to move from a position of vulnerability and dependence to greater levels of freedom and independence. By working with their residents, they enable them to remain as safe and secure as possible in their homes and signpost them to agencies and partner organisations to help them to overcome life challenges and lead fulfilling and self-sufficient lives.

We have decided to focus our efforts on the Housing area of the YMCA because we believe that we can make the biggest difference here. There are three usual stages that a rough sleeper will go through with the charity on their journey to independence.

Firstly, there is emergency accommodation at the Nomad Centre, which has 22 en suite bedrooms. Here the main focus is providing somewhere safe and warm to sleep, serving three meals a day to its residents every day of the year and providing them with mental health and physical wellbeing services.

Following this, a resident can move to the Hostel next door, which has 69 rooms and on-site support available 24/7. Here, the focus is to help people get back on their feet, providing support in a range of important areas, such as mental well-being, preparation for employment, or social development. Another major step is that residents are provided with their own kitchen in their room and they are supported in managing budgets and healthy cooking.

The target, following their time at the hostel, is to then place someone in shared accommodation through their Housing Outreach. Once again, this is a step closer to living independently and safely and again, there is a focus around sharing a kitchen with others, while being supported as you become active in your local community.

Having been generously supported by our suppliers, we are firstly renovating a large number of kitchens and bathrooms in the Hostel, to provide residents with a space they can feel proud to call home.

We are also very excited to launch our ‘Round-Up to Refurb’ mission. A completely optional way to make a huge difference to what the YMCA are doing. If you are able to and would like to, you are able to round up the price of your kitchen and every single penny of the round-up will be available to the two charities to use as it sees fit. This may be in the form of a major refurbishment of a youth centre, a living space in the hostel or even to purchase much-needed necessities for those still sleeping rough.

There is absolutely no pressure to do so but we wanted to give an opportunity, if you want to, to make a difference in our local community to a cause that we feel is extremely important. The added benefit is that due to the support from our suppliers and partners, we are able to provide them with interior work at a huge discount and therefore, able to make each pound go further.

I look forward to sharing updates with you about the work moving forward and even some of our team sleeping outside the cathedral overnight each March!