Helping rough sleepers in Leicester has never been easier with the launch of new donation points across Leicester, giving money towards a local night shelter.
The initiative, called Give Leicester, is part of the Leicester Homelessness Charter and has been set up by BID Leicester and Leicester City Council, who have worked together to provide the contactless donation points. They will also be covering all transaction costs to ensure that 100% of the money donated goes to the charity. These points are being installed in shops, cafés and public buildings in the city centre and beyond.
As the winter draws in, donations over the first six months will be going towards the One Roof Winter Night Shelter, operated by local charity One Roof Leicester. Your donations will help to provide additional emergency accommodation and food during the coldest months of the year.
The Give Leicester donation points are small, contactless terminals, which will enable people to make a £3 donation simply by tapping their card. With 9 locations launching this week, the scheme will grow to 16 giving points in total.
The first Give Leicester locations are now already accepting donations and these can be found at St Martin’s Coffee Shop, McDonalds on Eastgates and Market Street, Clockwise Credit Union, De Montfort University, St Martins House, Greggs on Gallowtree Gate, Knighton Library and Westcotes Library on Narborough Road.
In addition to the on-street giving points, local tech founders LoyalFree have also pledged to support the campaign through their app-based loyalty schemes. They have pledged 1p to Give Leicester for every loyalty stamp collected on the LoyalFree app, and they’ll even be back-dating their pledge from when the app launched.
Sophie Hainsworth, co-founder of LoyalFree, said, “We’ve been looking for a charity partner and as a Leicester-based company we wanted to help a good cause in the city.
“Users of LoyalFree don’t need to do anything differently – they can keep using the app as normal and we will automatically Give as they save.
“By backdating our pledge from when the app launched we already have £945 to donate to Give Leicester. To those in the city who don’t yet have the app I’d say: now is the time to download it! Not only can you benefit from great savings in the city, you can make a real difference to people’s lives.”
If you’re not already a user of the app, you can download LoyalFree here.
Simon Jenner, BID Leicester Director, said, “It’s fantastic to be able to launch Give Leicester, a project that will use technology and innovation to help to improve the lives of some of the city’s most vulnerable people.
“We know members of the public want to help rough sleepers whenever they can, and this initiative empowers them to be able to make a difference whilst being safe in the knowledge that 100% of their money will go to the Winter Night Shelter – an essential service that helps to get people off the streets as the temperatures start to drop.”
The Give Leicester initiative will also support a website listing over 75 organisations in the city that offer support services for homeless people. For anyone wishing to access outreach services or who has concerns about a situation, the online directory will provide a valuable source of information.
Find out more about the Give Leicester donation points, a directory of services available to people who are homeless and information about the Leicester Homelessness Charter at giveleicester.org.
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