As you may be aware, we had to close our Drop-in on March 18th due to the COVID-19 crisis. At that point we gave out four £10 supermarket vouchers and a few food parcels to each of our 32 destitute service users.
Since then we have been busy providing continuous casework support thanks to our wonderful DP Casework Team.
They have both had to work very hard from home. In this way we have been able to keep helping a large number of our asylum seeker, destitute asylum seeker and refugee service users and in many cases signpost them to other organisations in the Bolton and Greater Manchester area which can provide other specific assistance where available.
Because many of our destitute have been forced to sofa surf during the crisis, we were keen to be able to keep providing supermarket vouchers so that they could remain off the streets and safe. Thanks to the generosity of a couple of churches (e.g., Tonge Moor United and St Luke's), emergency grants from The Leigh Trust, CAF Coronavirus Emergency Fund, Groundwork UK/Tesco Bags of Help and Forever Manchester and individual donations to our Support a Destitute Asylum Seeker Scheme, we have been able to meet with and assist our destitute service users on two further occasions - April 22nd and May 20th. We now give £20 per week to each beneficiary along with a few food parcels. Our caseworkers were also there to meet new service users and verify their status and current situation. We plan to meet our destitute service users again on June 17th so that we can extend further emergency support as needed.
Our service users are extremely grateful for this help in these very difficult times.
During the Covid-19 crisis, it is critical that refused asylum seekers are able to contribute towards food cost in any household where they sofa surf or to feed themselves should they find themselves living on the street. Moving from place to place (as they normally would do) is not advisable. Our issue of 4 weeks of vouchers at a time helps them stay where they are, safeguarding the health of themselves and others. At less than £3 per day, the vouchers help to supplement any food they are able to get from other sources such as other food banks. We have also helped with covering the cost of medicines, GP visits and hospital visits for some of the destitute clients. With No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), these individuals do not get free access to healthcare. We have been working closely with the fine team at Bolton Mutual Aid who are able to bring food parcels and provide other forms of help for any of our other service users who may be in need. We also have been able to signpost people to food banks such as that run by NICE. We recently got word that refused asylum seekers can now also be signposted to the Urban Outreach foodbank via the Bolton Council.
We wish to thank everyone who has in any way come to the assistance of our service users or otherwise kept us all in your thoughts and prayers.
We will continue to update you on how things evolve and of any emerging needs of those who we have the privilege to serve.
