Mount St Joseph's School came to the rescue of DP yet again as they managed to collect well over 2000 tins of much needed non-perishable food items at the schools.

They delivered these items to DP in January.

Wednesday,13th September 2022 was a very special and memorable day for the Destitution Project at the Victoria Hall.

First thing in the morning a memorial table in memory of Queen Elizabeth II was set up by our volunteers. This consisted of two beautifully framed pictures of the Queen, candles and two toy, fluffy, Corgi dogs, all sensitively displayed on red and blue tablecloths.

DP is very grateful to the Bolton Community Kitchen for their kind donation of nice new duvets for our service users in need.

DP recently received generous funding support from the Charles Plater Trust (CPT) in the sum of £48,327 which will help pay for our Senior Caseworker, for additional casework assistance and also cover translation and interpretation costs so we can better respond to support asylum seekers and refugees living in Bolton.

Two members of our team, Trustee Sarah George and Volunteer Narjess, travelled to London on 25th May to accept the funding award at a ceremony held as part of the CPT's centenary mass, awards ceremony and reception at Allen Hall.

We had a special Drop-in where we celebrated National Refugee Week 2022 and our service users did us proud with many of them arriving in their very best clothing representing their various homelands.

Their outfits were quite breath-taking with their flamboyant styles and rich colours and there were some beautiful head coverings. Some volunteer team members also dressed up in national costume from Africa, Germany and the Netherlands and a Red Cross nurse also joined in the fun!

This year’s AGM for the Destitution Project held in the Wesley Suite of Victoria Hall on Monday 23rd May 2022 was a bit different than normal. After a year of closures and restrictions due to the Covid Pandemic it was great to meet in a more relaxed atmosphere.

Prior to the more formal AGM, we had an Open House which simulated what we normally offer on a Wednesday Drop- in with music playing and the Team Leaders at their work stations showing our guests how we operate normally. There were loads of food donated by team members from sausage rolls to a wide range of cakes backed up by our “Beverage Queen” Irina.

It has been a long winter, not helped by the Covid Pandemic but DP with its usual resourcefulness has not stood still. There have been several developments following on from our Casework team being relocated upstairs with the rest of our provision downstairs in the Wesley Suite.

Here are some of the changes:

A ticket system has been introduced so that when service users arrive at the Reception desk upstairs those eligible are given a ticket which gives them priority access to food parcels and clothes.

As pupils were returning to school this morning, one school was packing their van with all kinds of tins, packets and toilet rolls, destined for our very own Destitution Project! I think this is probably the seventh year that Mount St Joseph’s School have supported us in this way and they have now got it down to a fine art!

They started this mammoth project in late November when pupils were encouraged to bring in tinned goods for us and just to spice things up a bit, there was a competition between the different houses to see which one could collect the most tins! The end result was about 2,300!

Earlier this year, the Charity Commission gave the green light for the Destitution Project (DP) to convert from an unincorporated charity to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

We now have a new Charity Number (1194734) and a new bank account etc and all assets from the old DP, including our wonderful team of employees, volunteers and trustees, have now transferred to the CIO.