Pret Frith Street

The Ukrainian Welcome Centre is a partnership initiative between the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family in London and the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB). Our centre is at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, located at Bond Street, in Central London. Our primary service user group are displaced Ukrainians who have arrived and continue to arrive into the UK since February 2022 on the Homes4Ukraine or Family visa schemes. We have identified a secondary user group of Ukrainian nationals that have been in the UK since before February 2022, and have struggled to adjust to life here. While we have 2 main user groups, we also welcome anyone else who needs help to our centre. We host a wide variety of workshops and activities, partnering with local services and wider government departments. Our activities include workshops with; - the Home Office & Department for Work & Pensions about visa applications, family visa's, how to claim the right benefits, etc. - Shelter and other charities who help with the prospects of homelessness and housing queries - Local Councils (Westminster & The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea) about how to access local services - The Eastern European Resource Centre, who offer free legal advice and workshops Our volunteers host weekly community events; - Mother & child nursery - Art therapy classes for adults and children - English language classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced speakers - English conversation clubs, so people can practice their English outside of formal classes and grow their speaking confidence - Psychologist sessions to help with adult and child trauma - GP general advice sessions in the Ukrainian language, to help those who's level of English is low or those who need help with medication they brought with them from Ukraine - Support with accessing food banks and issuing food bank vouchers - Distributing surplus foods for home consumption and providing lunches/dinners for users at workshops through surplus food donations from Pret, via the Neighbourly surplus scheme - Daily refreshments (tea, coffee, squash and biscuits) - A 'warm space' in the colder months for visitors - A charging station for mobile phones Our team regularly applies for local and national grants, so that we can continue to provide our services and react to our users changing needs. We have benefitted from Neighbourly schemes like the 'Spring Fund 2024' where we identified our most vulnerable users (elderly families and those with young children), and used the grant to help pay for their weekly groceries and healthcare items (feminine care, oral hygiene, etc.). Our centre remains free for our visitors and service users, funded through grants, donations (physical items also) and by our team of volunteers.

We are called Connecting All Communities, a not for profit organisation based in East London of Hackney. CAC aims to tackle segregation and persuade community cohesion to celebrate our similarities and accept our differences to understand and to apperciate individual uniqueness. We are have been providing food parcels and cultural hot meals to residents in and around Hackney. Since the cost of living has increased the demand of our services triples. We would be really greateful to have wonderful volunteers who are able to help us to help others in many different ways such as collecting and delivery our food parcels and cultural hot meals to people who are unable to come to our centres. We also be thankful for volunteers who can help us work behind the seen at the confort of their own homes Although we are registered at Pembury Community centre, we are delivering most of our activities, programs and projects at Banister House community centre in Homerton area. Our work is not only around food but there are many different tasks that we deliver everyday. We are mainly working from home on voluntery based. We would kindly appreciate if you could kindly give back just a little bit of your time, skills and knowledge to the local communities.

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.