Jamie is shaving his head to raise money for SPIN
Jamie is raising funds for SPIN
And this lion is doing so by shaving off his mane! Go to Jamie’s fundraising page to find out more. Here is Jamie’s message to all those willing to give to our cause:
Good day,
I am writing as a member of a not for profit, grass roots organisation striving to provide the most basic human rights to those on the streets and/or in need.
Our organisation is called Supporting People In Need (SPIN). We began over two years ago when our founders Marc and John, two brother from Manchester, took it upon themselves to walk the streets of this beautiful city handing out sandwiches, hot drinks and clothing to the destitute. Due to an injury suffered whilst serving for our national armed forces, John was unable to continue to take to the streets and began plotting a stationary street kitchen with Marc. With a lot of hard graft the lads were able to make that dream come true and to this day upwards of 50 visitors come and indulge on a three course, restaurant standard of food outside the Manchester Cathedral every Thursday night. We provide a gorgeous variety of foods, hot/cold drinks and snacks as well as clothing, an ear to bend and a warm, caring connection from a genuine bunch of volunteers.
In conjunction with this, a local parish saw the great work the boys were doing and wanted to help. The Coverdale Church on Coverdale Close, Ardwick was a dilapidated, rat infested building fit only for demolition until it was offered to SPIN. The Pastor always had the dream of creating a sanctuary for those without permanent housing to come worship, eat, relax and sleep as well as providing a stepping stone for those on the streets to progress back in to society; either through overcoming substance abuse, volunteering to actually finding jobs and giving control back to the destitute.
With a lot of hard work Marc, John and a whole host of generous volunteers helped to transform this battered building into The Well, a fully functioning church with an industrial kitchen, full sized canteen, games/entertainment room and 12 beds which are all currently occupied by those seeking refuge from the harsh streets of Manchester.
At The Well, those who are offered sanctuary must volunteer some of their time to maintaining and managing the facilities. In addition to this, they spend time working for a local food charity called FareShare Greater Manchester which was launched in October 2008 to support communities to combat food poverty and food waste in and around Manchester. The guys who give time to FareShare receive food parcels in exchange for their time and as a thank you FareShare donate a very generous amount of food to The Well which is used to feed those staying, the surrounding community (Sunday roast dinner) and the food kitchen on a Thursday night. SPIN has additionally been very successful in finding jobs for some of the occupants of The Well including warehouse work, retail and catering works to name a few.
There is currently no other self funded, not for profit charity doing as much as we are in Manchester. Feeding, homing and finding jobs for the destitute. A lot of the funds have either come from the pockets of the patriots running the organisation or from donations as well as some money from the church funds itself. We have plans to expand the living quarters so we can house more seeking sanctuary but we are running low on funds. If you can help by donating whatever you can in order to make The Well a success then you’ll be helping those within the walls of the sanctuary but also hundreds, even thousands of people on the streets.
Thank you for your time.
Go to Jamie’s gofundme page
Help us support the homeless by going to Jamie’s gofundme page:
A big thanks from all of us here at SPIN.
