How business can help the homeless
SIFA Fireside
Did you know that here in Birmingham homeless rates are over four times the national average? We know that homelessness has become increasingly visible, particularly to businesses based in Birmingham city centre. Some businesses have face-to-face contact with people who are rough sleeping on or around their premises, some businesses say that their employees encounter people who are homeless on their daily commute – either way businesses are asking how they can help.
SIFA Fireside work with our partners, Shelter, to provide the ‘Homeless Hub’ for Birmingham where we play a pivotal role in helping people who are homeless or vulnerably housed. There are a number of ways in which business can support SIFA Fireside. We work hard to build ‘win-win’ relationships with our corporate supporters.
Sponsorship of events is a great way to help SIFA Fireside, as it enables us to run these high profile events, increasing people’s awareness of homelessness and some of the issues, whilst encouraging others to get involved in supporting us. It’s also a wonderful opportunity for a company to profile their involvement with our charity.
We have two amazing events coming up shortly and are excited to offer the opportunity to sponsor these to existing and new supporters.
Charity Quiz Night in aid of SIFA Fireside – 6th October
Once again, our extremely popular quiz night is back this year at B4 Bar, Aston University Campus. This is one of our biggest fundraising events of the year and regularly attended by approximately 130 people from Aston University, Birmingham Businesses and SIFA Fireside supporters.
‘Street’ Spirit’ – Photography exhibition launch - October 10th
This year World Homeless Day and World Mental Health Day both take place on October 10th. We know that many of our homeless clients often report mental health issues either as a result of their homeless status or as a contributing factor to their housing problems. In the ‘unhealthy state of homelessness’ report 80% of respondents reported some form of mental health issue and 45% had been diagnosed with a mental health issue (compared to just 25% of the general population).
To present our clients experiences of Mental Health and Homelessness from their own viewpoint, we are running a photography project with clients and will launch an exhibition here on October 10th. Following a photography workshop, clients from SIFA Fireside, Big Issue and Crisis will go out with cameras to capture images of Homelessness and Mental Health in Birmingham. The best photos will then be selected for a touring exhibition to be launched here on October 10th in partnership with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.
As well as sponsorship opportunities there are a whole host of different ways you can get involved in supporting SIFA Fireside. You could help through volunteering, fundraising, payroll giving, donations of goods such as sleeping bags and roll mats, or through simply spreading the word.
If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact Nikki-DeeHaddleton@sifafireside.co.uk