We’re partnering with Belvidere in Liverpool, the UK’s first eco-friendly homeless hostel. Find out more as Tim visits.
Blog Post: The Belvidere Centre and a New Giving Method
Today, Tim and Deirdre are visiting the Belvidere Centre in Liverpool.
We got in touch with the Belvidere, the UK’s first completely eco-friendly homeless hostel, through the Whitechapel Centre, a great organisation that does a lot of good work in helping homeless people get back on their feet. Once a former 19th century convent now powered by photovoltaic solar cells and a ‘living roof’ of seedlings, the Belvidere is a series of apartments for families and individuals in urgent need of temporary accommodation. The hostel has just celebrated its first birthday – with a big cake baked by the residents!
It’s a great project that will keep vulnerable people off the streets when they’re at their most desperate. And WaveLength is setting the apartments up with TVs and radios to give a much-needed sense of normality and connection.
New Partnership Method
This partnership is the first time that we’ve worked with a hostel, but we hope it won’t be the last. Working with an organisation, rather than with individuals, lets us spread the initial cost of the equipment to many people. Several people will move in and out of the apartments during the life of the TV or radio, meaning that every pound we receive from donors will go even further. We hope that our equipment will help these adults and children to stay in touch with their communities, and ward off feelings of isolation and loneliness at a very stressful and scary time.
We’re excited about spreading our new method of funding centres to more organisations over the next few years. Please do get in touch if you think WaveLength would be a good fit for your beneficiaries!
The change to funding centres means that our supporters’ kind donations go even further. For the cost of one radio or TV, the Belvidere can help new people every few weeks or months for the life of the equipment – potentially hundreds of people. So please, if you can, visit just giving.com/wavel to donate any amount, however small, to help out the isolated and lonely people in our communities.
For more about Belvidere and our shout-out for organisation partners, watch Tim’s video on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm6SiIqaB30