Sainsbury's Leicester Square Local

We are a poverty alleviation and community empowerment nonprofit promoting equitable access to food, housing, healthcare, education, and an adequate standard of living for individuals and families. We work with various segments of the community including homeless people, refugees, rough sleepers, and individuals and families living in extreme poverty. Refuge Network runs a soup kitchen at Charing Cross. We also operate several outreach programmes providing food and survival packs in various locations, including Victoria, Leicester Square, Brixton, Camden, Clapham, London Bridge, Waterloo, and Goodge Street. We provide food, clothing, tents, sleeping bags, phones, survival kits, other material supplies, and advice to the homeless, refugees, struggling individuals, and families living in poverty. Due to the cost of living crisis, our service is receiving unprecedented requests for assistance. We are seeing more suffering on the streets and can feel the urgency of the situation. A visitor to our soup kitchen told us he was finding it difficult to remain on his feet due to hunger. It was heartbreaking seeing him sitting dejectedly by the streets complaining he had no strength to move on. Around the same period, our team members at Southwark spent time consoling an injured homeless woman on a wheelchair who was weeping profusely by the roadside due to hunger and homelessness. While Refuge Network has made great strides in providing support to thousands of homeless people and rough sleepers, the situation with many service users remains desperate. We are expanding services to cater for more individuals and families in underserved areas, so we urgently need food, clothing, toiletries, blankets, bags, household goods, and anything you can give to support the cause. Volunteers are also needed to meet growing demands. Thank you very much for your support!

The Connection is based in the West End and works with people who are rough sleeping to move away from, and stay off, the streets of London. It often starts with a chat, the offer of a coffee and perhaps a hot meal and shower. The chance to use a washing machine or charge a phone. Simple things that aren’t easy when you’re living on the streets. Then it’s about listening to people and building up trust and understanding, so we can work out together what they need next. When you feel let down by the system, and humankind, it’s not always easy to find or accept help. So we stick with people, and find ways to get them what they need. Ultimately, it’s about treating every person as a human being with dignity, so they can find their way off the streets and a place to call home.