The world has changed dramatically over the last few months. We have seen people from all walks of life have to change the way in which they do things in order to cope with what Coronavirus has brought. But in times of strife, seeing the ways in which people have adapted to the challenges has been inspiring. Whether it be the ways people work, to home schooling their kids, even to staying in touch with family and friends, it shows the resilience of humans when dealing with the curveballs that life can often throw at us.
At St Basils, we have also had to adapt. The ways in which we engage with young people had to change when, at its peak, we had 21% of the young people within our care self-isolating. During this time, a third of our workforce were also having to self-isolate. This meant we had to find new ways to support young people. An ever increasing reliance on technology to deliver workshops in employability through to simply being there when people needed to talk about difficulties. Our work, like many charities, has continued regardless of the situation.
The response to our appeal for support to tackle this crisis has been truly heart-warming. When we asked for support for long life food donations, you delivered. When we launched our virtual fundraisers, many of you stood up and took part. When we required assistance to deal with the challenges of Covid-19, so many of you got in touch with offers of PPE. Some of you have made financial donations during this time when we know money is something all of us are worried about. Words can never express our gratitude to you all.
The nature of the situation is now changing. The focus has quite rightly been on responding to Covid-19, but our work to support young people in the West Midlands who have experienced life without a home has continued throughout this period and will always be our focus. Like many charities, we are facing the prospect of losing a substantial amount of the charitable income which pays for much of the support we can offer to young people under our care. (By the looks of it, it will be at least 35%) That means our ability to support those in need could be compromised. If Covid-19 has taught us one thing, it is that support for people in crisis is more vital than ever.
We want to thank all of you who have stepped up to support us during this time. We know how difficult things are at the moment. Even though things are very slowly returning to some sense of normality, people are quite understandably worried what the next few weeks and months will bring. Financial worries continue and will continue for some time. We absolutely understand if you can’t make a donation to our cause. But, If you feel you are able to donate to us (and please only do so if you can absolutely afford it) you can do so at stbasils.org.uk/donate Every single donation has such a positive impact on the young people we support.
On behalf of all those young people we support across the West Midlands, thank you.