We’re proud to announce that on March 6th we’ll be supporting Love Food Hate Waste’s Food Waste Action Week campaign.

This year’s rallying cry – Win. Don’t Bin – is a week of action which brings the nation together to save time and money by making the food we already have go further.

A soon-to-be-revealed celebrity ambassador along with a team of exciting influencers will be occupying the internet and shining a light on how the correct storage of food can provide a second (or third!) meal for free.

Throughout the week we’ll be posting fun and informative content on our socials!

Get involved. Find out how you can save time and money.

Take the quiz at lovefoodhatewaste.com/fwaw

How are we winning and not binning at SSJ?

The Society of St James are working with The Big Difference to ensure food is redistributed to those who need it. Sanjay, the Head of the Big Difference says “The Big Difference has now given away an estimated 2 million pounds worth of food since the beginning of the pandemic”.  We are extremely grateful for the unyielding efforts of the Big Difference, to make a big difference.

To support this redistribution, SSJ launched James’ Pantry at our head office towards the end of last year for our service users, residents and staff.

The increasing cost of living is having a huge impact on everyone but most painfully on those from deprived communities.

Many of those individuals suffering economic inequality are residing in SSJ properties or are accessing one or more of the other services that we offer here at The Society of St James.

James’ Pantry aims to offer a good value, environmentally friendly solution to the cost of living crisis across Southampton and eventually Portsmouth.

We collect surplus food donations from across our geography and mainly from The Big Difference and make them available, for free, to the Society of St James residents and service users.  As we also know that it is not just our service users and residents that are suffering, our staff can also use the Pantry for a small charge. Since we started in September 2022 we have counted nearly 600 visits to the pantry and we are learning how to improve the way we do things all the time.

If you would like to help by volunteering at James’ Pantry, donating food or cash to support growth then please contact us here.

Otherwise, please consider signing-up to our newsletter.

Items needed: Sun cream, re-useable water bottles, hats and sun glasses.

Temperatures are expected to reach as high as 40° this week – and we want to make sure our projects have all the provisions they need and for service users to have easy access to water and sun cream when they are out and about.

The items listed above are classed as urgent as we want to make sure we have enough to carry us through the rest of the summer – to help protect service users and people affected by homelessness from the threat of dehydration, sun burn and heat-stroke.

If you can help, please email Info@ssj.org.uk

Thank you.

We are fast approaching Christmas and people are already busily following street lights under the haze of the cold evenings, watching the displays in windows as they search for a gift to share with their loved ones which tells them they are not alone.

Christmas for most people is a time of reflection and joy. It’s a time when we can come together and recognise how lucky we are to be able to enjoy time with friends and family, reflecting on the year behind us and focusing on celebrating of love, forgiveness and togetherness.

It’s the opposite for those in our care as they come to grips with a Christmas away from the comforts of a warm home. They won’t be unwrapping presents in front of loved ones, they won’t be anticipating the taste of a cooked bird and the feast that accompanies it and they won’t sit back reminiscing with family members about days gone by.

Donate to our 2021 appeal by clicking here

By supporting our Christmas appeal, you’re providing hope, happiness and a little bit of the Christmas spirit to people who have and expect nothing at a time of year where loneliness can impact mental health and emotional wellbeing.

If you want to read more about our Christmas Appeal, visit our dedicated page and read about Jason’s journey – from homelessness at Christmas to the support he has received from The Society of St James, where he is now planning for a better and brighter future and a Christmas he can enjoy in 2021.

In 2020 we were able spend £4,500 on Asda Gift Vouchers for residents, approximately £4,200 on Christmas dinners for residents with suitable facilities, and where this wasn’t possible the Cafe in the Park produced a special Christmas hamper which was distributed to residents. Many residents were able to enjoy spending time with other service users and the true spirit of Christmas was in place for those who benefited from the 2020 campaign.

Donate to our campaign by visiting this link and help us raise £10,000 in 2021.

If you want to support our campaign or would like more information, email Dennis.Jones@SSJ.org.uk 

Autumn, Winter and Christmas is an important time for us at SSJ – as we start thinking about the colder nights, rain, snow and other elements that may affect people during the darker nights.

It’s also at this time that we start planning for the launch of our Christmas Campaign (October 15th) which follows directly on from World Homeless Day on October 10th.

We have many stories we want to tell during these winter months – and once again we will be committing to raise money for our Christmas Meal Campaign, as we have done every year.

How you can help?

We are looking for community groups, businesses and anybody who wants to support us this Christmas to get in touch and let us know they want to support our Christmas Meal Campaign. The appeal will be going live on October 15th – and we want to give you the heads of as to what to expect, how much we need to raise and what will be happening during the winter months.

If you’re looking for a challenge this winter, please think about committing your support to our Christmas Campaign and help provide a more positive future for people affected by homelessness.

If you want to support us, email Dennis.Jones@SSJ.org.uk – we’d be happy to give you a call for a chat. We’re planning a Zoom meeting before the launch to talk about our Christmas plans, if that interests you email Comms@SSJ.org.uk (Headline: Christmas Talk) and we will add you to the list and let you know the details.

Ideas: Winter runs, fundraising evening, concerts, quizzes, staff events & more.

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Southampton for sharing festive cheer with the delivery of 40 Christmas hamper to our Care Homes this week.

Donations like this make a big difference to our residents at Christmas, especially in what has been a challenging year for staff, residents and service users at SSJ.

Our residents were thrilled with the delivery which has lifted Christmas spirits throughout our care homes.

Thank you again for your support.

We are aware that times are hard for most people right now and that is why we are delighted that we have been able to meet our first target of £5,000 for our Christmas Meal Appeal.

The first week saw unprecedented support from supporters across the South, helping us reach more than £1,000 within the first 7 days – all leaving powerful messages on LinkedIn which will be shared with staff in the organisation to boost morale.

We reached our original target of £5,000 on Friday, thanks to a generous donation from the team at Garmin, based in Southampton, who donated the £5,000 which would have been spent on their staff Christmas Meal.

This means that there are people affected by homelessness who will be able to enjoy a hot meal at a time of the year when they can feel so alone. Our campaign has been built on their own descriptions of how Christmas makes them feel – from cold to lonely, and from stressed to angry – so we can now make sure we invest time and effort into giving them a different kind of Christmas to the one they are accustomed to.

Help us do more:

We would love to keep the fundraising going to we can look ahead at what we can do next year to give people affected by homelessness the chance to change their lives.

With this in mind, any money raised above the £5000 target will go towards helping vulnerable people take the next step forward in 2021 by buying I.D, bus passes, smart clothes for job interviews, and more.

Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated and if you can continue to support our appeal, it will change many lives in 2021.

You can continue to support the appeal by clicking here.

We launched Pay It Forward at an event back in July thanks to the generous support of Southern Co-op. We welcomed representatives from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner,  local councillors and council staff as well as many members of the local community to the event, all of whom kick-started the donations. Since the launch, the generous Portsmouth community have donated 689 vouchers.

Staff and volunteers at the Café have been blown away by the generosity of the Café’s patrons; Café Manager Annette said “to be able to give out vouchers to disadvantaged people, have a chat with them, to be able to give a dad a voucher who otherwise would not be able to afford an ice-cream for his child on a hot day is just awe-inspiring”.  A staff member said “The homeless are so grateful – it’s great to be able to help them”.  Our chef told me proudly that “we’ve even had kids donating”.  All the customers think it’s a great idea and many have wondered why more Cafes don’t do the same thing!

As the vouchers are being distributed to the less fortunate word is getting out and patrons have been delighted to witness first-hand the benefits this single act of kindness can bring.  Craig said “It really helps with breaking the ice with the homeless – it’s great to get to know them.”

Craig continued: “patrons are asked to write comments to accompany the voucher, a recent patron wrote “hoping this little bit of kindness can bring warmth to your heart, a smile to your face and brighten your day…Enjoy.”

Initiated by staff at the Café, some of whom have experienced life on the streets, Pay It Forward is a way for the public to show they care by buying a voucher for someone less fortunate. In exchange for a £2 donation, those who are disadvantaged can get a hot drink or seasonal snack at the Café.  We then ensure that the vouchers are given to someone facing multiple disadvantages such as homelessness, poverty and/or substance misuse and will offer signposting to support if appropriate.

The Café in Victoria Park in Portsmouth is yet again going to be the focus of The Society of St. James’ activities when it plays host to the first Portsmouth based SSJ Sleep Out in November.  Supporters of the charity will collect sponsorship money to sleep out under the stars, so why not register now and join us in Victoria Park this November.