Jobtrain Foundation and survival kits - an update!

Last year in December, many of our readers will have keenly read our article on the important work The Jobtrain Foundation has been up to; sponsoring a school library and helping to donate Children’s BookTrust goody bags; and our work with the Homeless Project Manchester (HPM).

HPM is very close to all of our hearts at JTGO and Jobtrain, and never more so than in the cold, dark months of winter. We’re pleased to have been able to help them more than ever in 2021, supporting them to deliver their valued work to the homeless.

A little bit about the Homeless Project Manchester

As an entirely volunteer led organisation, the support of local businesses and people is valued enormously by HPM - and our Foundation is grateful to play a part in helping them do their amazing work. HPM is led by the fantastic Damon, who works tirelessly to help the homeless and the many families living in hostels around Manchester.

About the Jobtrain Foundation

The Jobtrain Foundation comes from the people at JTGO and Jobtrain. As a collective we wanted to do more to help those less fortunate – and that’s where the Jobtrain Foundation was born in 2017. We now commit 1% of all of our annual licence fees to the Jobtrain Foundation – and so far, have committed over £100,000.

How the Jobtrain Foundation has helped HPM

We’ve worked with the Homeless Project Manchester for a number of years – read more about what we’ve done this year with HPM. During the cold winter months, survival kits are critical – and with your help that’s just what we’ve recently started to create. These kits are invaluable to those in need and homeless on the streets of Manchester this winter.

How you’ve helped

In December we asked for your help – and you responded! We shouted it from the rooftops (well actually on LinkedIn and Twitter as well as email and word of mouth!) to get everyone’s attention to this cause and you listened – thank you!

We asked you to download our Christmas quiz – fun for all the family at Christmas, and Christmas 2022 if you like to be really prepared! For each quiz that was downloaded we promised we’d add more items to survival kits. In a matter of weeks, you’ve downloaded almost 100 Christmas quizzes! That’s helped us build more survival kits and add more items to each.

In December, we created over 60 bags, and another 100 will be made in January. Each survival kit comes in a drawstring bag to make it easier for the person to look after and store the items – they include a range of essential toiletries, underwear and socks. Each bag costs around £10 each.

The survival kits are centred around our JTGO and Jobtrain Feel Good Fridays where we all get stuck in to create these kits on the last Friday of every month at JTGO and Jobtrain HQ.

Here’s the latest photos of the survival kits, the Homeless Project Manchester team and the Jobtrain Foundation handing out kits and food.

What's in each survival kit...

The Homeless Project Manchester and Jobtrain Foundation teams heading out into Manchester to hand out food and survival kits.

What else have we done to help HPM?

Transporting everything they need to the homeless was becoming increasingly difficult for the HPM team - delivering food, clothing and essential items. That’s where the Jobtrain Foundation stepped in with a fully kitted out van with all the storage they need to get items out, quickly and easily. It’s helped with their weekly hot food runs, as well as delivering clothing, essential items and donations in and around the homeless hostels in Manchester.

We also fixed their storage problems. Sometimes, they receive bulk donations of clothing or essential items, but with no proper storage facility, it was becoming an ever-increasing struggle for the team. And of course, they would never want to decline much needed donations.

Now, the Jobtrain Foundation funds a large secure lock up, along with regular financial donations to purchase items like toiletries, extra food, tents etc. And to top it off, our CEO, Chris, and Director, Alison, regularly bulk cook for the food runs and help distribute food and other goodies.