I’m generally an optimistic person. Someone who thinks the best possible thing will happen and hopes for it even if it’s not especially likely. However, as we approached this year’s BBC Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields I was not exactly anxious, but let’s say less confident that our ask for support would be well received at a time when financial insecurity and uncertainty seemed so much closer to home to so many.
My concern wasn’t unreasonable. In Spring 2020 we’d gone back to donors, soon after the 2019 Christmas Appeal, to ask again for support as part of St Martin’s Keep Our Doors Open campaign. Wonderfully, people from across the world gave money to this appeal. It enabled us to open a St Martin’s Emergency Fund which supported almost seven thousand people with basic items like food, mobile phones to keep in touch with support workers and rent deposits to get people into housing. People were extraordinarily kind. We distributed over £1.6m in just 92 days across the UK. Surely they couldn’t be so generous again?
As Christmas approached, it became clear I shouldn’t have worried. From the very first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, people once again showed their incredible support for St Martin-in-the-Fields and our work with homeless people nationwide. This year’s appeal hasn’t closed yet but I’m optimistic that we’ll exceed last year, all on top of the support we received earlier in the year.
The crisis in which we find ourselves continues, but as a result of the public’s support, so does our response. Next month we are reopening our Emergency Fund so that we can again support people experiencing homelessness. We’re not hanging around but supporting people quickly and effectively in the moment.
On this Homeless Sunday, in the face of continued challenges, we at St Martin’s can be thankful to those who so kindly and continuedly support us. We can remain optimistic that together we can be there for those who need our support most.
Tim Bissett
St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity
