Who we are
Burton Hope was founded in August 2017 It came about after our chairman John Anderson raised awareness via the Burton mail of the plight of local people that needed help and support.
In January 2020 We became a registered charity in England.
Registered Charity No. 1187330
Burton HOPE is a local charity for the local community in and around Burton Upon Trent.
100% Staffed by local unpaid volunteers.
100% funded by donations from local people and businesses.
Our work focuses on those in society that struggle to get the help they need from anywhere else.
Also making the public aware of what is happening in their own area.
What We Do
HOPE2Home
Food Parcel Requests, Production and delivery
At its peak, preparing and distributing more than 100 food parcels per week to people in need of support in and around Burton Upon Trent. this increased dramatically to a 7 day a week service during the 2020 Covid 19 outbreak. Currently Operating 5 days a week (Mon-Fri)
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Period Poverty
We supply schools and other organisations with ladies’ sanitary products to counter Period Poverty
HOPE2Street
Homeless outreach and support
Twice weekly, totaling 80 volunteer hours, teams of trained volunteers scour the local area in search of the homeless to check up and invite to the support resources on offer in the Market Place, Burton Upon Trent. Teams of volunteers offer hot drinks , clothes , food bags to hungry and homeless.
Our trained team focus here is to
Try and get these individuals back on their feet ,
Deal with any medical issues
Registering with GP’s , Housing, Alcohol and drug rehab referrals, mental health treatment.
the Covid 19 outbreak forced a change in this service
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HOPE4ID
Without ID it is very hard to get housed and lack of ID can cause many obstacles. HOPE4ID is the service name for resolving that obstacle.We spend many hours cutting through red tape to obtain ID for our service users, especially those that are homeless. We are still able to obtain birth certificates although they are taking longer to arrive. Foreign ID (passports) are impossible to get now the embassies and consulates have closed due to COVID-19. When they are open it is very time consuming and expensive to get passports as it involves two of our volunteers accompanying the service user to London or Manchester depending on the nationality. We expected our HOPE4ID service to slow down during the COVID pandemic but in many ways it has become busier.
Donation collections
Donations come into Burton hope from local businesses and individuals, we have HOPE2Home volunteers that coordinate, collect and transport these to our storage facilities.
Storage Coordination
Working with the donation collection team and outreach teams,this is also an important role ensuring the organised safe and efficient
storage of supplies (clothes ,bedding, tents, food, toiletries etc).
Anything donated that cannot be used is then passed onto local charity shops.
Building Social Awareness
Letting our community know that there are individuals and families that need their help.
Thanking donators, visiting schools and clubs to give talks to raise awareness.
Fundraising
Burton Hope is 100% funded by donations. without the support of the residents and businesses of the local area we Burton Hope would not be able to carry out all of the above. Our team of volunteers also work with local organisations arranging fundraising events.
Why we are needed
(by our chairman John Anderson)
It is almost like a forgotten people living in a parallel world. A world without love; second (if not third class citizens). These poor folks are often disrespected by the very people who should be offering help. At this point in time our street people are being attacked regularly. One gentleman had his tent set on fire in the night by thugs. Others are being punched, kicked, spat on; ladies get sexually assaulted. Most of them are too scared to report incidents to the police; we will always encourage them to do so.
Through talks, media and our presence on the streets we are showing the reality of what is a huge problem.
In Burton, at this moment (3/5/18) we know of 44 people sleeping rough!
Then the hidden homeless…… Sofa surfers; there are a lot but we have no idea of how many. Then those in expensive supported housing (cost: around £240 per week!) They do not have secure tenancies so are they still homeless? We think everyone deserves a secure home.
The support expected is one to two hours per week. Presently, this support is funded by but not checked by the council.
How about the unknown number of families and individuals in crisis due to poverty? It is heart breaking taking food parcels; especially to families with children.
Our children should not be suffering. We see parents rummaging in bins to get food for their kids!
This problem is exacerbated during school holidays when there are no free school meals
Should girls be taking time off school during their period, because they cannot afford sanitary products? So called “period poverty”!
This is the harsh reality that is mostly invisible to normal society and Burton Hope does it’s part to help.
History of Burton Hope
John used to go out alone on outreach, taking food and clothing to places where homeless Burtonians slept, often into the early hours. Lewis joined him on many occasions. John admits it could be dangerous and at times very upsetting. He has witnessed homeless people dying on our streets, others being attacked, many illnesses and one man was even set on fire by mindless thugs. He often had to administer first aid. On one such outreach session during mid 2017 some upsetting experiences caused him to publish pictures onto social media. The pictures went viral. Helen Knight, a reporter from The Burton Mail asked if she could use the photos. The interest was so great that John used the momentum to call a meeting at The de Ferrers Academy at which Burton HOPE was formed.
