PerchPeek - Paul & Tommy
In 2019, Perchpeek started to support Centrepoint in their mission to combat youth homelessness. Ever since, we have been consistently blown away by the difference they make in fighting against such an unnerving failure of our society. However, Coronavirus has led to an estimated £2m funding gap for Centrepoint, just as young people need their services more than ever (more on this below). So, Ace Vinayak, Perchpeek’s CTO, challenged the team to come up with creative ways to raise funds for their emergency appeal. This post outlines why we chose to support Centrepoint initially, why their services are more important than ever and the challenges we’ve undertaken to support them in this time of need.
Given PerchPeek’s mission to help people decide where to live, we were clear that we wanted to support a homelessness charity to be able to serve the broadest spectrum of people possible. One of the things that specifically attracted us to Centrepoint initially was their holistic approach to supporting vulnerable young people that not only provides them with housing, but also health services and education / training to try and improve their future prospects. Coronavirus has significantly increased the need for all of these services and so securing funding for Centrepoint is now more important than ever:
Housing - Centrepoint provides over 1000 beds to support homeless youths and sadly, many of the reasons young people require this shelter are greatly exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic. In particular, increased domestic violence, an uplift in family breakdowns and the inability to sofa surf are all closely linked to the current lockdown. As such, Centrepoint is seeing more young people referred to them than ever.
Additional support - a sobering fact is that 60% of young people in Centrepoint’s services have a diagnosed mental health condition. Whilst Coronavirus creates uncertainty for everyone, this group of young people are particularly vulnerable to the anxiety and loneliness caused by self-isolation. Many don’t have family or friends who can support them and Centrepoint’s psychotherapy and mental health support for the young are needed more than ever.
Combined with this increased strain on their existing resources, Centrepoint are faced with a double whammy of escalating costs and reduced funding. On the cost front, they’re faced with sourcing PPE and additional locum staff to be able to keep providing their services (and to cover self-isolating staff). On the fundraising side, the cancellation of major events has led to a predicted fundraising gap of £2m this year alone. Major events such as the London Marathon are cornerstones of their fundraising efforts and extremely difficult to replace in the current situation.
To try and do our bit, Ace, our CTO challenged us to come up with a creative way to support Centrepoint in this period. Rising to the challenge, Paul’s resident dog Nuka volunteered to help out. Nuka constantly tries to eat Paul’s food and so to aid Nuka’s quest, for every day they receive donations, Paul will be racing Nuka to eat his leftovers. No hands allowed, see the races in the updates.
Given PerchPeek’s mission to help people decide where to live, we were clear that we wanted to support a homelessness charity to be able to serve the broadest spectrum of people possible. One of the things that specifically attracted us to Centrepoint initially was their holistic approach to supporting vulnerable young people that not only provides them with housing, but also health services and education / training to try and improve their future prospects. Coronavirus has significantly increased the need for all of these services and so securing funding for Centrepoint is now more important than ever:
Housing - Centrepoint provides over 1000 beds to support homeless youths and sadly, many of the reasons young people require this shelter are greatly exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic. In particular, increased domestic violence, an uplift in family breakdowns and the inability to sofa surf are all closely linked to the current lockdown. As such, Centrepoint is seeing more young people referred to them than ever.
Additional support - a sobering fact is that 60% of young people in Centrepoint’s services have a diagnosed mental health condition. Whilst Coronavirus creates uncertainty for everyone, this group of young people are particularly vulnerable to the anxiety and loneliness caused by self-isolation. Many don’t have family or friends who can support them and Centrepoint’s psychotherapy and mental health support for the young are needed more than ever.
Combined with this increased strain on their existing resources, Centrepoint are faced with a double whammy of escalating costs and reduced funding. On the cost front, they’re faced with sourcing PPE and additional locum staff to be able to keep providing their services (and to cover self-isolating staff). On the fundraising side, the cancellation of major events has led to a predicted fundraising gap of £2m this year alone. Major events such as the London Marathon are cornerstones of their fundraising efforts and extremely difficult to replace in the current situation.
To try and do our bit, Ace, our CTO challenged us to come up with a creative way to support Centrepoint in this period. Rising to the challenge, Paul’s resident dog Nuka volunteered to help out. Nuka constantly tries to eat Paul’s food and so to aid Nuka’s quest, for every day they receive donations, Paul will be racing Nuka to eat his leftovers. No hands allowed, see the races in the updates.
Fundraising team (2)
PerchPeek Ltd
Organizer
Centrepoint Soho
Beneficiary
Paul Bennett
Team member