ABOUT THE CHARITY
Grit Street Aid provides mobile assistance to rough sleepers and the homeless throughout Greater Manchester. We offer help to people where they live on the street, and provide food, clothing, bedding and other essentials. Our primary aim is to build solid relationships with all our service users, and encourage them over time to engage with other services. We try to establish good relationships with all our service users to gain their trust and build a rapport. By doing this we are able to assess their needs to give them specific support or signpost them to other agencies who may be better equipped to deal with more complex issues they may have. We have now become established in our efforts to bring relief to those people who are entrenched in their street lifestyle to offer them a positive way forward.
DONATIONS AND GRANTS
The help and support our friends on the street need is varied and wide ranging and we cannot provide this without the kind support of our funders and individuals.
Our funders include The National Lottery, Forever Manchester, Tesco, Garfield Weston, The Albert Hunt Trust, The Duchy of Lancaster, Eleanor Peel Trust and The Charity Service.
Individuals can support us financially or by donating unwanted clothing or camping equipment. Some of the most requested items are usually:
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clothing (included waterproof)
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tents
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sleeping bags
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blankets
Financial support helps us to buy nutritious food items that we put into food packs so that we can provide them with something to eat to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. This regular contact and support helps us build a trusting relationship so that over time we can discuss the issues that are preventing them from getting off the street and to encourage them to engage with other organisations that can provide the support they need to move into permanent accommodation.
As we provide a mobile service visiting people where they are we need to have a van to do this and one of the grants we have received will go towards the running cost of the van. However we are mindful of our carbon footprint so we are also trying to raise funds to purchase an electric vehicle. Donations to support our current vehicle running costs or towards purchasing a new vehicle would also be gratefully received.
To see how you can donate please click on our Donate page.