In the midst of the cost-of-living crisis, thousands of families across the UK experiencing food insecurity. For the past quarter of a century, Hospitality & Hope has been there to support residents in their local area to not only get access to the necessities they need, but have developed a series of other services to help those experiencing such difficulties, lead a more independent life. We sat down with Wayne, their Operations Manager and easyfundraising cause admin to tell us a little bit more about the charity and their work.
Tell us all about Hospitality & Hope
We are a registered charity, and we work in South Tyneside to tackle food insecurity. We have been in operation for almost 25 years and support all residents of the borough, with our vision that we can help them lead a more self-reliant and independent life.
We do this in a variety of forms, as we operate three Community Shops, a Charity Shop, a large Supported Living Accommodation service and a traditional foodbank – as well as running several outreach and future study programmes to assist future generations through learning and education. Our Community Shops also have Wellbeing Units attached to them, who organise events such as craft classes and trips in the community to better support their locally based membership.
What do you need funding for?
We are always in need of donations to further assist our work in a variety of forms, whether that’s purchasing food produce for our foodbank or helping with the running costs of our wellbeing events or helping to facilitate additional needs of those who interact with us. Whilst we are fortunate enough to receive donations and funding from other sources, often this funding comes short of being able to accommodate the constant rising demand.
Is there something specific you are fundraising for at the moment?
We are constantly looking ahead at busier periods of the year, such as Christmas and the six weeks school summer holidays, when the demand on our services across several forms generally reaches its highest capacity. Certainly, looking ahead at the six-week holidays we are wanting to make sure that those most in need in our region have an opportunity both to engage with us fully as well as the chance of respite.
Why did you choose to join easyfundraising?
We were impressed with the flexible nature of the fundraising process. We were staggered that over 8,000 established retailers were available to our community to raise from – and we like that those who choose to support us can do so without going to further personal expense, as it’s included within the price of their purchases. It’s an easy system to use and promote and refer people too within the work we do and it’s quite universal, anyone who shops online can choose to support us for free.
How have you gathered supporters?
We have done several things, such as the creation of posters we put up around our various sites, including our cause page QR code which has been really handy! We have used the ready-made social media posts letting people know how they can get behind us and I have found the referral scheme (raise £1 for every new supporter recruited via your own unique referral link – see more here) to be extremely beneficial. I’ve shared it with people I know and amongst our staff and volunteers.
You have raised over £170 in just over a year, how will this be used?
Overall, to support the organisation. We haven’t ring fenced it for anything specific, it has been added to the collective force of incoming donations and assigned thereafter based on time of year, latest project, largest focus etc. it’s been a really useful addition and we’re excited to see it grow in the future.
What other fundraising do you do?
We do a variety of fundraising such as collections at local supermarkets and businesses, food drives, bucket collections at a local football club, we have individuals who compete in marathons and other sporting events to raise money for us. We also have some kind donors who sell on ebay or vinted and donate a portion of the proceeds to us.
Do you have a message for those that support you?
I would like to say thank you, because we know and understand there’s a lot of great charities out there like us doing really important work, and we’re really grateful for every single penny and every single referral and help we receive in respect of donations. It all helps us carry out and promote our work and help those that need us to live more self reliant and independent lives. We still need more support though to help us achieve our vision. However you can support us, we’d really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
How you can support Hospitality & Hope
It’s hard to put into words how important charities like H&H are to their local residents in need. Not only are they helping them at a time of crisis, but remain there for them to try and get out of their current situation and live a more independent life. They can only do so with your support, so if you’d like to raise free donations for them every time you shop online, sign up here.
Are you connected to a cause that could use some extra free funding? Register your cause.
