Guests at The Bridge Homelessness to Hope, Leicester enjoy 12 days of festive events throughout December.
Guests who are experiencing homelessness in the city of Leicester enjoyed 12 days of Christmas events at The Bridge's day centre, including decorating The Bridge's Hub with Christmas decorations, Christmas card making, Christmas films, gingerbread decorating, karaoke, games and quizzes.
The Bridge also held their annual Art Exhibition on Friday 22nd December, as well as a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 140 people on Christmas day.
The art exhibition showcased works created over the past year by guests at The Bridge who attend the Arts and Crafts session on Monday afternoons. Guests were also treated to a performance by The Bridge Band, who performed several songs including 'Numb' by Linkin Park.
The Bridge’s ‘12 Days of Christmas’ campaign, which raised an incredible £4230 (with Gift Aid) for the events in December, included a £1000 Donation from the Shoe Zone Trust for the charity's Christmas Day meal. The shoe company also hosted a food bank collection for The Bridge, donating 516 items of food to those who are experiencing homelessness in Leicester.
"This donation will make a big difference to many without a home, or family this Christmas, and we're pleased to say that The Shoezone Trust will be matching the number of items collected with a monetary donation in the New Year."
Other supporters of the charity's Christmas campaign included Amazon, who donated presents to The Bridge's guests consisting of backpacks filled with chocolate selection boxes, water bottles, and a Greg’s voucher. The presents were then wrapped by several volunteers from Selfridges in Leicester.
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“We have an annual commitment to the city’s homeless community to serve their Christmas dinners at this particularly difficult time of the year. It’s so easy to overlook the challenges that homeless people face at Christmas and beyond, particularly when you’re celebrating the festive season with your own family and friends, so we really value the support of our dedicated staff and volunteers for giving their time on this special day.”
David Fawcett, Executive Operations Manager at The Bridge Homelessness to Hope.
On Christmas Day, guests at The Bridge enjoyed a three-course meal with Leek and Potato Soup to start, a traditional Christmas dinner for their main and Christmas or Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.
Staff, volunteers and guests were also joined on the day by Henrietta Chub, High Sheriff of Leicestershire and fire fighters from the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue (Central White Watch).
Over 140 people experiencing homelessness were served on Christmas day, making it the charity's most attended Christmas Day service since the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020.
"A huge hank you to everyone who donated to our '12 Days of Christmas Campaign'. With your generosity, we have been able to raise £4200 for The Bridge Homelessness to Hope and fulfil the promise we made to our guests to put on activities throughout the whole of December. A special thank you must be made to Amazon, Dupli, Shoe Zone, Dunelm and Selfridges in Leicester who have donated large sums of not only money, but much-needed items to our charity, as well as the often under-valued gift of time to make sure our events went ahead. Thank you also to all our staff and volunteers over the Christmas period for making Christmas 2023 one to remember!"
Gemma Orton, Partnership Development Coordinator at The Bridge Homelessness to Hope.
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