GGB UK Reinsurance

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!

An essential part of our goals is to improve confidence and allow the homeless of London to integrate back into the community they are surrounded by. We plan to counteract any of their issues by beginning to offer classes at our Community Café we aim to recreate through this project in Islington. Another facet to our future goals is beginning one to one training and support for Rhythms of Life’s service users. Overall, we want to create an environment where the homeless and vulnerable can feel safe, secure and are able to discuss their problems and get the help they need and deserve. By creating a network of volunteers and partners, we are able to collect and distribute donations of food, clothes, hygiene supplies and everyday items. We believe in giving people something concrete on which they can build a solid base: we aim to bring a long lasting change in their lives, rather than occasional and isolated help. Our experience has taught us that a sandwich and a bag of clothes are more helpful than some money handed over every now and then. We try to achieve our goals by giving useful things, along with the sensibility to use them properly and make them last. We want to listen and get to know the problems homeless people face every day, spending time with them. We believe that if we do not gain an insight into their needs and problems from them firsthand, then we would not be able to do what we are doing. In other words, we work closely with our service users so that we can understand their emotional and physical needs. We love the challenge, and we’re always looking for help. You can take part too, donating food, clothes, equipment or even your own time to help Rhythms of Life helping others.

Set up over 130 years ago, Blackfriars Settlement is a vibrant community hub deeply embedded in the local community. We support over 400 older people each year through our Positive Ageing service (PA) and 120+ people with mental health challenges through our Mental Health & Wellbeing service, as well as providing adult education to 1000+ students. We also support local grassroots and peer support organisations, provide a free legal clinic, a free osteopathy clinic, and run a social integration project aimed at bridging the divides between different local communities.