YMCA Heart of England
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Become a RoomSponsor

This is no place for a young person!

Thousands of young people are at risk of homelessness every week across England and Wales.

As a RoomSponsor, you can help provide a safe place for young people at risk of homelessness.

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Surge in the number of young people on the streets

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Young people aged 16-24 were homeless or at risk of homelessness in the UK

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Of homelessness cases were not successfully dealt with by local authorities

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This is no place for a young person!

Thousands of young people are at risk of homelessness every week across England and Wales.

Out in the cold, nowhere to call home. Young people facing homelessness in your area urgently need help.

As the nights draw in, we urgently need your support to get young people out of the cold, and into a place at YMCA, so we can break the cycle of homelessness.

At YMCA, we provide these critical foundations for a fresh, strong start for young people and a better quality of life in the community.

Become a RoomSponsor

We provide a safe place for young people

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We’ve increased our support to young people by 16% (comparing 2021 -2022)

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We support 10,600 young people ages 16-24 every year

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We have successfully supported 4,905 Young people into independent living

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Ray's Story

After the relationship with his family broke down, Ray found himself homeless.

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He wanted nothing more for Christmas, than to have a roof over his head, where he was safe.

Instead, Ray was living in an abandoned car where he was bitterly cold, where he had nowhere to wash and barely anything to eat and subsequently fell seriously ill, being admitted to hospital with a kidney infection.

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Thankfully, YMCA were able to provide Ray with a room.

Ray received the support he needed to start to build a more stable future.

Ray, with support of YMCA, has been to college, and is now training to be a security guard.

“To actually come into a room, with a bath I could use and a bed I could sleep in was amazing – for the first time in years I wasn’t scared anymore.”

Become a RoomSponsor
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You can help a young person like Ray

The stability of having a room, and people who’ll support you, it changes your life. It means so much to know there’s somebody out there who cares, somebody who sees me as a human being and believes in me.
Ray

How your donations are helping young people

At YMCA, we give young people the tools they need to create a secure and hopeful future for themselves. Your donation can help provide:

  • A place to call home in a warm and nurturing community
  • Mental health support, counselling and mentoring
  • Practical courses to teach skills such as budgeting and cooking
  • Opportunities to gain skills, qualifications and employment
Become a RoomSponsor
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Become a Roomsponsor

As a RoomSponsor, you can help provide a safe place for young people at risk of homelessness.

FAQs

We’ve tried to answer some of the more frequently asked questions about gifts in Wills here. You’ll find more detailed information in our free Will Guide, and if you’d like to talk in confidence with Elizabeth, our Legacy Officer, she’d be delighted to hear from you.

Your gift doesn’t fund the room but goes towards the support the young person staying in the room receives. This can include services like counselling, life skills sessions and essentials like clothing.

RoomSponsor is a high-value regular giving product starting at £12 a month. Donations go towards helping young people experiencing homelessness, providing them with a safe place to stay and ongoing support to help them turn their lives around.

There is no obligation or expectation that you will write to the young people you are helping, but many RoomSponsors do, and you are more than welcome to. When you sign up, you’ll receive a welcome pack, and in that pack, we include a blank note and return envelope for you to do so. Letters or cards should be sent to YMCA England & Wales.

However, please know that young people will not answer your letters directly. All communications will be via YMCA England & Wales. For this reason, we ask that you do not write or call individual YMCAs.

Please also be aware that whilst all communications and updates are authentic, we sometimes protect the young person’s identity, at their request, by changing their name and using pictures of models.

Young people can stay at a YMCA for as long as they need to, as every young person is an individual with individual needs. In some cases, young people can stay for up to two years.  We hope you’ll want to follow the young people you are helping and give them your support for as long as you can.

We’re proud to be supporting over 10,600 young people in England & Wales. But we could do more with your help.