Community groups throughout Hampshire, from girl guides to youth groups, students to churches, have run with this idea to hold ONE BIG Sleepout on the same night for the same charity to support the most vulnerable people in our area. Some of these groups are aiming to raise £10 a head, others have set the minimum sponsorship target at £40. Some have 200 participants, others are significantly smaller.

The Society of St James are thrilled to be holding their own event right in the heart of Southampton City Centre. Huge thanks must go to The Marlands for jumping through hoops to make this happen. They’ll be locking us behind their entrance gates (next to Starbucks) for 12 hours on the 9 March 2012. Starbucks’ are kindly greeting us with arrival drinks and welcoming us indoors for breakfast, again the drinks are complimentary, in the morning.

Ok, so it’s fair to say that Starbucks coffee night and morning, access to facilities and sleeping behind a locked gate isn’t a wholly authentic experience of homelessness. But the exposure to the cold, and the reactions of (sometimes inebriated) passers by on a Friday night, certainly will give a flavour of what some of our clients face.

But more than that, each of our 40 staff and supporters who participates is committing to trying to raise £40. Let’s assume they are all successful, let’s assume their passion means that they all exceed the £40, that’s over £1600 from that one event to help homeless people where we live and work. How much more will be raised by this being a Hampshire wide event?

There’s still time for you to jump on board with this, just nip over to our Sleepout page, fill in the form and we’ll let you know if there’s space for you and your mate(s) to join in.

Skinny Steve Beanies

Terry, a resident at Southampton Street, spoke to South Today’s Roger Finn this evening about just how hard it is sleeping rough in these conditions.

 Well, it’s pretty horrendous. It’s bad enough when you’re sleeping rough anyway; even in the warmer weather its’s horrible because you can never really sleep, because you’re worried about your own safety. But in this weather you can’t even sleep yourself, you know, you fall asleep for maybe an hour and then an hour later you wake up again because you’re so cold. You just end up walking the streets mainly, because it’s just to cold to sleep.

Paul Baker, service manager, explained that we have now taken in as many extra people as we can. The Southampton Street hostel is now full to capacity. All we can do now is provide blankets and sleeping bags to anyone who comes to the door, and get them in touch with the Street Homeless Prevention Team who will try and find them a place in another homeless service in the city.

With more sub-zero temperatures and snow forecast for the weekend, things are only going to get harder for homeless people in Southampton this weekend. Please spare them a thought and donate if you can.

Original post

Winter has come late to Southampton this year, but we are all shivering in the grip of sub-zero temperatures this week. As I sit in the office, wearing a scarf and fingerless gloves and with the heating on full, I can’t imagine how painful it must be to be sleeping rough in this weather.

BBC South Today will be broadcasting live from our Southampton Street hostel on Friday 3rd February at 6.30pm, where our residents and staff will talk about the impact of the icy temperatures and the city’s cold weather arrangements for homeless people. We and other homelessness agencies in the city make extra bed spaces available in our hostels when the night time temperatures drop. Our Chief Executive, Trevor Pickup, will also be featured on Wave 105 over the next couple of days.

Since prolonged exposure to the cold can lead to serious health issues, including hypothermia and frostbite, we and the other homelessness services in Southampton do all that we can to ensure that no-one is forced to sleep rough.

One person went to rather extreme lengths this week to show his support for homeless people during this cold snap. Laurence Gibbons, a Journalism student at Southampton Solent University and member of Radio Sonar, the student radio station, slept rough and spent an incredible 21 hours on the streets of the city. He and our friend Skinny Steve braved temperatures as low as -3 degrees to raise the profile of homelessness and funds for the Society of St James in the process – Laurence, you are a complete star!

Laurence prepares for a cold night with Skinny Steve and Georgie from Radio Sonar

Of course, if you want to support homeless people in Southampton during this cold weather, you don’t need to go as far as Laurence.

You can help by donating to the Society of St James here, to ensure that we can offer a bed for the night to anyone who needs it. 

The Society of St James is Southampton’s largest homelessness charity and provides a range of services to support vulnerable adults across Hampshire. This client group as a whole includes some of society’s most impoverished individuals. Many of whom would, for a number of reasons, struggle to access credit from legitimate sources and as such are vulnerable to loan sharks,

Service users at the Drug Intervention Programme have been working together to create an eye catching piece of artwork to highlight the dangers of loan sharks and to encourage people not to use them.

The artwork was funded using proceeds of crime money taken from convicted loan sharks through the courts, and took five weeks for the art group to design and produce. The group get together every week in order to focus their energy and creativity into something positive.

An estimated 310,000 households nationally are borrowing from loan sharks. These criminals will trap borrowers into a never ending spiral of debt, often resorting to extreme methods such as intimidation, threats and violence to enforce repayment.

These lenders may appear friendly at first but their behaviour can quickly change. Many will add on arbitrary extra changes and interest- in some cases in excess of 131,000 APR. Some will even take bank or post office cards along with the PIN in order to withdraw directly from borrower’s accounts.

However the England Illegal Money Lending Team, who work in partnership with Southampton City Council, are cracking down on this crime, with more than 200 prosecutions secured leading to prison sentences in excess of 130 years. More than 18,000 victims have been helped and the team are encouraging anyone else who has fallen prey to a loan shark to come forward.

Sam Perry, Fundraising Manager at the Society of St James, said “Our service users tend to be some of society’s most impoverished individuals due to a range of complex issues. The service users that helped create the artwork for this campaign access the service because of addiction issues. Our art group is very popular and the service users find it a good way to express themselves. A number of the service users that access this service could be potentially vulnerable to loan sharks and are pleased to be campaigning against them.”

Councillor Daniel Fitzhenry, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport at Southampton City Council said: “It is vital that people struggling with their finances realise that there are alternatives to illegal money lending. From setting up credit unions to offering advice on getting out of debt, Southampton City Council continues to work with the England Illegal Money Lending Team to offer practical advice to help people through difficult times.

“I’d like to assure our residents that we have a zero tolerance approach to this offence, and we will continue to use all routes available to us to prosecute any offences we uncover.”

Tony Quigley Head of the England Illegal Money Lending Team said “Illegal money lending is a despicable crime, which causes a great deal of misery and leaves people living in fear. Through our work with local partners such as the Society of St James we are able to reach the most vulnerable people in our communities and encourage them to avoid loan sharks at all costs.  Anyone who is a victim of illegal money lending is encouraged to contact us in confidence on 0300 555 2222”

To report a loan shark:

Call the 24/7 confidential hotline 0300 555 2222

Text ‘loan shark + your message’ to 60003

E-mail reportaloanshark@stoploansharks.gov.uk

Log-on to www.direct.gov.uk/stoploansharks

Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/stoploansharksproject

Yesterday in the fundraising office we were preparing our budgets for the next financial year. Like everybody that has to do this knows, you start to plan the future by looking backwards.

Whilst looking backwards over the last financial year, we realised how many wonderful business people had supported us with pro bono work. This makes a huge fiscal and immeasurable PR/communications difference to our organisation and therefore to those that we support.

I would like dedicate the rest of this post to the technology based companies that have helped us over the last 12 months and recommend them to anyone that needs support with web-based services. Naturally, we’ll be thanking those who’ve given in other ways, from other business areas, in further posts.

Firstly I would like to thank and recommend Greg Cooper from the Search Marketing Group. Greg contacted us around 18 months ago with a desire to work with a charity. SMG help push the Society of St James up the google rankings in order to help us attract new supporters and spread the news of the great work that our charity does. Greg’s team has been working on this, free of charge, for 18 months now and we have seen some fantastic movement in our rankings which has helped to grow our audience.

I would also like to thank and recommend Rachel from approachable technology. Rachel, as her website suggests really does make IT seem much easier to understand and her knowledge of IT related issues is second to none. Her initial contact with the Society of St James came through her willingness to work with and train some of our service users, and we’ve been grateful to have maintained contact.
Over the Christmas period our website was hacked which left us with some real problems. Rachel came to our rescue and not only fixed the problems, but educated us and assisted us to the point where we are able to make minor fixes ourselves. Thank you Rachel.

Towards the end of last year Ross from Skysoclear transferred our website over to a WordPress site. This has improved our use of the blog, given us more flexibility, and enabled the whole of our team to be able to update the site and add content. I cannot recommend Ross highly enough, his primary interest is in helping companies to tell their stories through film, and we look forward to working with him in the future.

Most recently Kate from KPI has completed some pro bono work for us improving our ad words account. I met the team when I was fortunate enough to be on a training course run by KPI, they put Kate in touch with us to offer this service. This again has made a huge impact on the number of people visiting our site and also helps direct people to the most appropriate areas of our site, whether they want to volunteer, donate, or find out how to access our services. Thank you Kate.

Finally I would like to thank and recommend Tom from soundyoucansee.com. Tom started working with us in 2009 when he undertook the rebranding of the Society of St James and built us a new website. The rebranding was altruistically given, the website work enabled both him and us to gain relevant and significant experience in web development.
It was this start to our new look that was a turning point in our approach to marketing ourselves as a charity. Tom‘s generous input has enabled us to develop all of the above relationships with these fantastic people.

Thank you all very much and we look forward to working with you further in the years to come.

As Channel 4 news confirmed last week that youth unemployment currently stands at 1.04 million, or 22.3% of 16-24 year olds, we thought we’d share what that means for us in real terms, and what we are striving to do to make a difference.

The largest group of our clients are males under 25. Work surrounding substance misuse forms a significant portion of the work we do here at the Society of St James, and we know that engaging people in meaningful activity (employment, education, hobbies, sports) is a key to assisting in breaking the cycle of addiction.

With unemployment statistics at their highest in 17 years, and young people bearing the brunt of that, what we are facing is a potential increase in the numbers of people needing to access our services.

It’s not all bad news though, through some of our projects many of our service users have gained relevant training and experience, leading them back into employment:

Jamie’s Computers is a computer recycling/refurbishment service. It is the social enterprise arm of the Society and offers training and work experience through the probation service, and through community volunteers.

Back in the summer I spoke with Stuart (at that time, long term unemployed), a volunteer at Jamie’s:
“Working at Jamie’s is more worthwhile than watching daytime TV. Getting something in, rebuilding it, getting it in the shop, getting it sold … that’s a small rush. 
Now I can read between the lines on job descriptions and think, maybe I can do that.” 

Speaking with Stuart gave me real insight into how demoralising being unemployed can be, and he was really starting to doubt his abilities to make it back into the workplace. From being a volunteer at Jamie’s Computers, he’s now taken the next step and is currently on a training course.

I’ve chosen to highlight just this testimony in response to the reported rise in unemployment. Undoubtedly, 2012 will present us, personally and organisationally, with new challenges. We’ll be doing all we can to rise to these challenges.

Five finalists’ designs were shortlisted, and Jordon Hill’s winning design will be finding its way onto badges and beanies for our ONE BIG Sleepout event in March.

We’re rather hoping that the represented colleges, South Downs College, BCOT are going to be part of our BIG Sleepout event. The bar has been set rather high with one Hampshire based college raising £8000 in their recent sleep out with only 50 participants. Can this be beaten?

Skinny Steve Beanie

Four of the five shortlisted winners have had their designs printed onto t-shirts (one elected to save us that expense which was extraordinarily generous).

We think all of the finalists had print worthy designs and hope that they’re all enjoying wearing their work about their person.
It will be exciting to see how the Skinny Steve merchandise takes off.

Thank you to all of our entrants, the 5 finalists and of course to Jordon, our winning designer.

4 of our 5 Winners

New year, new start. It’s no different for us here at SSJ either. The managers get together to discuss the plans and direction for the year, and each of our projects does the same.

Here in Fundraising, our 2012 plans are centred around our BIG 4-O celebrations. We are looking at ways of using the number 40 to engage with our local community. Through events we’re holding, and media tools we are using, through the creativity of some of our wonderful supporters … you are likely to see and hear the Society of St James at work in new ways.

Maybe you have charted our growth from a handful of volunteers supporting 12 homeless people in 1972, to over 170 staff supporting 1000 vulnerable people at any given time in 2012. Or maybe you’d never heard of us before you clicked this link.
By the end of 2012, you will know more about SSJ, our vision, our work, our passion, our achievements, than you’ve ever known before.

Watch this space.

Our BIG 4-O

Anything you give to the Society of St James, or to any other charity, is free of inheritance tax (IHT).

Many people like to remember a favourite charity in their wills.  If you die at any time after 5 April 2012, benefiting The Society of St James could benefit your family as well.

If your will leaves your whole estate to your children, everything worth more than the IHT threshold (£325,000 for each individual) is taxed at 40%.  So giving the Society of St James £100,000 in your will currently costs your family £60,000 – the gift to the Society that is free of IHT would have suffered £40,000 tax if it had gone to your children.

The government’s new initiative will mean that, if you make your will in the right way, a gift to The Society of St James will cost your family only 24% of what you give to the Society.

The new rules will work as follows:

• Your executors calculate the taxable value of your estate, deducting from it any reliefs and any of the IHT-free £325,000 available;
• They then add back the value of any gifts to the Society and any other charity;
• The result is the “baseline amount”;
• If the value passing to charity is more than 10% of “the baseline amount”, the rest of your estate is taxed at 36% instead of 40%.

The following table illustrates the scale of the gift you could make to the Society, and the cost to your family, which depends on the size of your estate and the reliefs available.

Find out more about making a Society of St James charity will

If you would like to know more about saving IHT in your will, or have any other questions about IHT, succession law or similar issues, please feel free to contact Anthony Nixon at Thomas Eggar, Brunel House, 21 Brunswick Place, Southampton, SO15 2AQ, 023 8083 1224, anthony.nixon@thomaseggar.com.

2011 has been a fantastic year for us here which has seen the number of donated computers for charity that we have refurbished and recycled hit an all time high. We have received over 7000 base units, 3977 screens and 2292 laptops + many other items of IT  equipment.

All of which has been diverted from landfill and either refurbished or recycled ethically.

Not only does this service help the environment but it enables us to train and give work experience to many volunteers and probationers who have put in over 13,000 hours of volunteering this year.

At Jamie’s we offer work experience and hands-on training to hard-to-reach groups with the aim of increasing their skills and employability. Meaningful occupation such as this also leads to increased confidence and self-esteem, an increased ability to manage anger and improved communication and social skills. These opportunities are provided through and funded by the computer recycling and IT refurbishment side of Jamie’s.

As Jamie’s Computers is a charity we rely on businesses and individuals donating to us computers for charity rather than opting for the dump or a private sector competitor.

We believe though that their really is no choice!  Our service is FREE, ethical and bennefits both the local and extended community.

And to add to this we have won an internationally recognised award this year for our work –The International Green Apple Environment Award.

However none of this is possible without your support. If you are hoping to get a new computer/laptop for Christmas then please consider using Jamie’s to dispose of your old machine. Likewise if your business is upgrading in the coming months then please book in a free collection for your old IT equipment and support our work.

Our data destruction service guarantees that none of your data can be retrieved and that your business is fully compliant.

To book a collection or to find out more please contact us

If you know someone else that could bennefit from our services then please let them know. We collect used IT from all over the South of England.

Mark informed me that the Saints Foundation had, along with U Support (another Southampton based Charity), been invited to the House of Lords by the Right Reverend Dr. Michael Langrish, the seventieth Lord Bishop of Exeter.

I did not need to be told what a honour this was and what a wonderful opportunity it was for the Society of St James and for the Saints4Sport project. Understandably we jumped at the chance and I won’t pretend that there wasn’t a minor in-house scuffle as to which SSJ staff members would get to go.

In the end we were able to take three members of staff (Dean Latona – Drug service supervisor and main organiser of the Saints4Sport project, Mike Taylor – Operations Director for the SSJ drug services, and me [Sam Perry - fundraising manager]) along with Carl and Martin (two service users).

On the day of the event we all met at 2pm at the Saints football stadium to get the coach up to London together.

There was a strict dress code for the House of Lords and us gents had to wear shirts, ties and jackets. For those of you that know SSJ well you will know that dressing in this type of attire is somewhat alien to us however, I think we surprised everyone by scrubbing up pretty well.  Carl clearly won the prize of best turned out and commented that “I could pass for someone posh until I open my mouth” to which we all laughed.

Before the evening reception and presentation we were fortunate enough to have a guided tour of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords which was fascinating and well worth visiting if ever you get chance.

After our tour we all met up with around 220  supporters, Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen and had a glass of wine or two whilst the Right Reverend Dr. Michael Langrish introduced us and started the proceedings.

Mr Nicola Cortese – Executive Chairman of Southampton F.C was next to talk and told us of his vision for the Saints Foundation and how vital it was for Football clubs to support charity and the local community.

Mark Abrahams was next up to talk about the great work that the Saints Foundation has been doing over the past 12 months which focused on their partnership with the Society of St James and our joint project Saints4Sport. At the end of Marks presentation he showed the video below about Carl’s journey and how the Saints4Sports project has helped him.

At this point Carl was feeling fairly embaressed and had turned a rather fetching shade of red however, after the presentation a number of people sought him out with kind words for his honesty and for the strength that he has had to change his life.

Carl was over the moon with how well the event went and told me:

“If you had told me last year that I would be drug free and going to the House of Lords I would have thought you were mad. I can’t believe it.”

Mr Cortese also came and spoke with us and said:

“When I joined the Saints we were in the relegation zone of league 1 with minus 10 points. As a club we are trying to get back into the premiership. Carl has beaten us though. He was in league 1 with minus 10 points but has already made it back to the premiership.”

It was a real honour to get invited to this event and to represent such a fantastic charity that does such amazing work (even if I am a little biased).