Under One Sky Winter Homeless Support 2024-25

Our winter 2024/25 will be a very important for 2 reasons…

1) Tragically street homelessness will increase by about 20% in 2024. In response we are expanding our operations. We expect to support individuals on the streets of London, Edinburgh and Newcastle 15,000 times between Nov 24 and Mar 25.

2) Under One Sky will be launching a pioneering life transformation program in 2025 to end homelessness one person at a time for good. It is being co-developed with (formerly) homeless friends. Hear from one of our advisors Andrew who spent nearly 20 years on the streets in the film above (made by students at London Screen Academy with support from NBCUniversal).

OUR WORK & IMPACT

Mission: Through friendship, human connection and trauma-based support, we transform lives affected by homelessness, empowering individuals and communities to build compassionate, sustainable futures.

When the winter 2024/25 ends we will have supported our homeless friends with life necessities and connection close to half a million times since the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020. Since that time our teams have consistently been on the streets most days each week.

Our terrific family of 3000 volunteers across 5 years have made this possible together with support from a growing group of supportive companies.

Private donations made up 46% of our total funding 2023/24. This campaign is critical to the continuation of our efforts.

HOW WE SPEND YOUR DONATION

Historically Under One Sky has spent 100% of private crowdfunded donations directly on frontline support activities. We intend to continue that way.

We expect to provide our Skywalk bundle of essentials (food, drink, snacks, socks, underwear, toiletries) to 15,000 homeless friends from Nov 24 to Mar 25. The supplies cost per bundle is £3.60 resulting in a total cost of £54,000. The remainder of our target £21,000 is allocated to the services below.

On-demand items: Our teams take orders from individuals and deliver the following week for items such as shoes, clothing, coats, sleeping bags and tents.

High-impact items: Some items can make a big difference, such as glasses, wheelchairs and travel tickets to reconnect a person with family and friends.

Emergencies: When someone is deemed exposed to high risk, such as hyperthermia, sexual abuse or pregnant women, we provide emergency overnight stays in hostels.

We constantly seek out opportunities for supplies donations from our volunteer network, social media channels and partners to keep our costs down and recycle preloved items. In the last 5 years we have worked with more than 100 companies and several schools/universities.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT

• Sleeping bag: to donate, use our Amazon Wishlist

• Share our campaign: use the “Share” button (below the “Donate Now” button at the top of this page).

OUR HISTORY

Under One Sky started as a small winter community project in 2012. In 2020 we stepped onto the empty streets when our homeless friends had been abandoned at the onset of the Covid lockdowns. In a matter of weeks we had more than 1000 volunteers who served up to 600 homeless friends per day. Out of this emergency effort grew Under One Sky as an organisation. In 2022 we became a registered charity. This transformation was captured in the documentary award nominated documentary I'M STILL HERE (click to watch) or check out the trailer below.

Your support is crucial to continue our efforts to keep people alive and to keep changing lives.

With love and gratitude

Under One Sky