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With your support, YMCA Thames Gateway can help young people find their place
Young people like Lucy need urgent support
At the age of 16, Lucy suffered a family breakdown and found herself homeless. She often stayed with friends, but she would sleep on the streets on nights she had no one to turn to. She was scared, freezing, and didn’t know what would happen next until she found YMCA.
YMCA provided Lucy with a safe place to stay, emotional support, life skills sessions, and support in getting back into college.
Lucy now has hobbies and volunteers. She dreams of becoming a YMCA support worker to help other young people. With the support of YMCA RoomSponsors, her life has transformed.
Other young people like Lucy need your help.
How YMCA RoomSponsors make a difference
YMCA Thames Gateway offers support to young people that is tailored to their individual needs.
This is why YMCA is so unique—it’s a full package of support for young people. That’s why we ask for £12 a month. From the moment they arrive, they’re taken care of. This is made possible with donations from RoomSponsors.
Sign up to become a RoomSponsor for YMCA Thames Gateway today, and we’ll send you regular updates from the young people you’re helping in your area.
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How YMCA RoomSponsor supported young people last year:
0
young people successfully supported to move on from YMCA
0
young people supported in housing services
0
beds offered to young people aged 16–35 each night
What your £12 RoomSponsor gift goes towards:
We ask for £12 a month to provide a complete package of tailored support for young people at YMCA Thames Gateway.
- Bedding and clothing
- Counselling
- Welfare and debt advice
- Life skills sessions – like learning to cook and how to manage money
- Access to education or apprenticeships.
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RoomSponsor Frequently Asked Questions
Your gift doesn’t fund the room but goes towards the support the young person staying in the room receives. This can include services like counselling, life skills sessions and essentials like clothing.
There is no obligation or expectation that you will write to the young people you are helping, but many RoomSponsors do, and you are more than welcome to. When you sign up, you’ll receive a welcome pack, and in that pack, we include a blank note and return envelope for you to do so. Letters or cards should be sent to YMCA England & Wales.
However, please know that young people will not answer your letters directly. All communications will be via YMCA England & Wales. For this reason, we ask that you do not write or call individual YMCAs.
Please also be aware that whilst all communications and updates are authentic, we sometimes protect the young person’s identity, at their request, by changing their name and using pictures of models.
Young people can stay at a YMCA for as long as they need to, as every young person is an individual with individual needs. In some cases, young people can stay for up to two years. We hope you’ll want to follow the young people you are helping and give them your support for as long as you can.
We’re always happy to hear from you, so please feel free to call our Supporter Care Team on 020 7186 9518 or email us on roomsponsor@ymca.org.uk.
Sources:
*Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government: Last updated 25 July 2023 – www.gov.uk.
*Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities, Statutory homelessness in England: financial year 2022-23, 13 October 2023 Welsh Government, Homelessness: April 2022 to March 2023, 5 September 2023
The RoomSponsor scheme is managed by YMCA England & Wales on behalf of YMCA Thames Gateway. To view our privacy policy please visit: www.ymca.org.uk/privacy-statement.