Please donate to the BHN Coronavirus Appeal and help us accommodate and fund food for destitute asylum seekers.
The coronavirus has had a huge impact on our activity and finances.For the first time in our history, we have closed the Monday Welcome Centre and Friday claim-support sessions.
We are now focusing our efforts on supporting the 26 destitute asylum seekers ('members') that we walk in solidarity with, both at our men's house and within our host network.
Unfortunately, widespread closures of community services and businesses means that members are now entirely dependent on our destitution payments for food and bare essentials.
Some hosts have been required to self-isolate, with their members sofa-surfing with friends and family as a result - a precarious position for anyone during this time of uncertainty, putting both our members and others at greater risk of ill health.
With support from Quartet Community Foundation, BHN have doubled the value of our destitution payments, purchased a tablet for Fishponds House to enable video calls, and worked with partner organisations to purchase interpretation services, allowing us to communicate effectively with members who struggle to speak English.
However, this isn’t enough. Even by doubling our destitution payments, we are still only providing members with £20 per week – pittance when this is their only source of income. We want to increase this to £80 per week so that all asylum seekers can provide for themselves and feel safe and secure during this pandemic.
That’s why we’ve launched our BHN Coronavirus Appeal to ask for your support during this extraordinary period of crisis. You can donate here.
But what we really need during this pandemic and inevitable economic downturn is long-term support. Please consider setting up or increasing your monthly standing order with us via LocalGiving so that we can continue to support destitute asylum seekers and operate as an organisation in 2020.
This is a fast changing situation. Please sign up to our newsletter via our website and follow us on social media (Facebook/Twitter) to keep up to date on how we are dealing with the crisis.