For more than 50 years, Contact Hostel has been providing sanctuary for young women facing homelessness. It is estimated that just over 7,000 people (1 in 74) across the city of Manchester are homeless according to the Manchester Homelessness Partnership, with many of these female and as a result of, or driven to, prostitution, escaping abusive relationships and more. With such frightening statistics, charities like Contact Hostel are working hard to meet demand for their services. We spoke to Victoria, the Admin and Fundraising Assistant from Contact to learn more about their history, work, and their fundraising.
Tell us all about Contact Hostel
Contact was founded in 1970 by Brigid Murphy, a former Nun who realised the particular concerns related to young girls facing homelessness. Many girls leaving care or facing relationship breakdowns with family were vulnerable to abuse, being encouraged into drug talking or ending up entangled in the world of prostitution. Brigid became increasingly troubled with the lack of provision and established a home for them, which came to be known as Contact. Eventually, after using her own savings and launching appeals, she purchased our current site in South Manchester.
Contact is run by a small team of females, admin staff, and Trustees. Our experienced support staff are on site 24/7 to offer personalised one-to-one intervention including employment and education support, advice and guidance. We aim to provide ‘what any good parent would do’ for our girls.
What do you need funding for?
Though more than 50 years have passed, and whilst Contact has 1000s girls in that time, the problems Brigid identified in the 70’s are sadly still as much of an issue for girls today. We obviously need to fund the upkeep of our hostel and the meals for our guests but our service goes far beyond that. Each resident is supported to pursue education, training or employment, empowering them to realise their full potential and build a brighter future. Our mission is to ensure these women lead healthier, more positive lives. We need funding to ensure we can complete this mission and meet the demand for our services so that no woman has to continue to suffer on the streets.
Why did you join easyfundraising?
We love easyfundraising here at Contact, it’s a great formula, it provides a free and effortless way to raise funds for us and we get great feedback from supporters sharing how easy it is to use. It’s a super straightforward process for both charities and supporters, we love how people can continuously support us without making direct donations out of their own pocket. We see regularly through our service users the impact of the cost of living crisis, so we know that it isn’t easy for our community to donate – easyfundraising makes it possible for them without any extra cost.
How has the money raised helped?
We have raised just over £400 and recently had a service user starting college, she required some stationary and some specific uniform. As she didn’t have the support from family outside of the hostel to provide her with such things, we took it upon ourselves to provide her with the tools and uniform she required. This is a massive moment for this resident as she’d been out of mainstream education from a very early age. You can only imagine how supported she felt in this moment and the gratitude on her face said it all!
What projects are you fundraising for at the moment?
We are continuously fundraising towards the running costs of our space. The ‘hostel’ is a very homely space, we provide everything from bedding to shower gel to everyone that lives here and everything in between. All the money raised is essential to the general running costs of Contact.
How do you promote easyfundraising to people in your community?
We regularly post about easyfundraising on Facebook and Instagram, including using hashtags like #easyfundraising #SupportOurCause #FreeFundraising to build up the conversation and awareness. We send a friendly, personal message to our donor community with the sign-up link. Also regularly mentioning it in our monthly newsletter. We find digital channels are the most effective, trying to get in front of supporters when they are about to shop so they take that extra step to support us.
What advice would you give to other easyfundraising causes?
For many of our supporters, the app and donation reminder are vital parts in remembering to collect those free funds each time they shop. The more convenient and easy it is for them, the more they will use it and the more we will benefit. We can’t thank all our supporters enough.
How you can support Contact Hostel
What a remarkable cause, not just solving the short term issue their local women face of homelessness, the hostel also provides them with support and advice to improve their lives and turn their situation around for good. If you would like to support Contact every time you shop online, sign up as a supporter here.
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