Gale Trust awards SMART CJS £5,000 donation to support Bedford’s homeless

A charity supporting Bedford’s homeless has been awarded a £5,000 grant to help with staff costs in the coming six months.

The Bedford-based Gale Family Trust has awarded SMART CJS £5,000 to support their work with the homeless of Bedford through the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Trust was set up to make donations by way of grants to charitable causes in Bedfordshire,” said Russell Beard, Chair of the Board.

“SMART is a perfect fit for Gale in terms of local need and benefit and we are delighted to help them during such an unprecedented time.”

The grant is to be used by SMART CJS to cover exceptional costs associated with increased staff support for Bedford’s homeless over the next 6 months.

Jen Robus, SMART CJS Bedford Manager said, “Due to COVID-19 our homelessness services are currently operating from a temporary hotel-base in Bedford, providing 24 hours a day service, 7 days a week.

“Our team are working closely with the council and partners to provide rough-sleepers food, shelter and the ability to self-isolate, keeping themselves and others safe.

“In addition, specialist workers help with other problems those using the service face, such as drug and alcohol overuse, mental illness, and poor physical health.

“We are supporting more than 60 individuals per month and have seen numerous service users make positive improvements, with many being helped into suitable accommodation.

“Changes to the way we operate, longer hours and a rise in demand for our services means we require additional staff, more supplies, new hardware and Personal Protective Equipment.

To maintain these changes, we need increased funding, which is why the money received from the Gale Family Trust is so important and will help to keep our enhanced service operational. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

While the Gale Family Trust donation is significant, it is still only covers a small part of the total running costs of SMART CJS’s homeless service.

To support the SMART yourself, you can make donations at https://smartcjs.enthuse.com/profile

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