On behalf of everyone at Simon Community Scotland we’d like to wish you a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year ahead.
Thank you so much for your support, encouragement and engagement with our work.
We’re currently running our Christmas Care Appeal to raise £30,000 to help us create individually tailored care packs for people we support into emergency, temporary or supported accommodation, or into a permanent home of their own.
To end the year we just wanted to share a couple stories about the difference our work makes to people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
Perhaps this message below, from a lady we are supporting, highlights how much our care packs means to people. Please support if you can.
Big changes and new friendships
“I’ve got support, I’ve got help, I’ve got a roof over my head, which I never had before. I was homeless. I didn’t know where to turn, what to do, didn’t think there was a way out. I’m now back on the housing list, I’m getting support with my addiction, I’ve met good pals in here, I feel safe, I feel secure. Things I never had in the past. For 2-3 years I went from pillar to post, sleeping on couches. Now I have got a future to look forward to. I can’t thank the Simon Community staff enough. If it wasn’t for them… I’d probably be dead.” Ian, who is living at one of our supported accommodation sites.
Ian has become friends with someone else we are supporting and their humour and banter has earned them the nicknames ‘Jack and Victor’! So we now have those characters painted on the wall of our supported accommodation garden!
Lastly, we’ve recently been in the news;
CEO Lorraine McGrath wrote an article for The Scotsman about our work through the pandemic, our street team and how relationships are the heart of everything we do. READ HERE
Karyn McCluskey also wrote an article for The Scotsman about the importance of volunteering. Thank you so much to Karyn for her 8-years of service on our Board of Trustees and thank you to all our volunteers. We couldn’t do it without you. READ HERE
And Ashley Young, our Head of Hubs and Street Teams features in a recent article in the Glasgow Times on homelessness. READ HERE