In October 2022, we launched our annual winter fundraising campaign which focused on the rising cost of living.
Many people in the UK are feeling the pinch, in one way or another, however, it has varied wildly. From cancelling your favourite subscription service, to skipping meals to ensure others in the household can eat, everyone’s experience is different.
Because of this, we’ve had to adjust how we support people. We are now supporting more people in their own homes than ever before.
As well as our support changing, we knew that our 2022 winter campaign was going to be tougher than usual, due to the rising living costs.
We’ve been overwhelmed with the support we have received during these unprecedented times.
More than 500 people donated to our winter campaign and we cannot thank you enough.
Every donation, no matter how small, helps us to end homelessness in Wales.
Giving Tuesday is an annual global movement that encourages people to do good and took place on 29 November 2022.
It was The Wallich’s first-time taking part in Giving Tuesday and our aim was to raise £500.
Thanks to you, we went above and beyond that target and raised a fantastic £915 in just 24 hours.
The Wallich’s winter raffle was an easy way for people to support our winter campaign, with tickets starting from just £2.
Prizes included a 3-course meal and cocktails for 2 at Marco Pierre White’s London Steakhouse and a trip to the top of The Shard, £150 Love2Shop voucher, 2 x return journey coach tickets from FlixBus and many more.
With help from our fantastic community sellers, we sold 936 raffle tickets, raising £1,872.
We can’t solve homelessness on our own, we need a community response.
We are fortunate to have received fantastic support from community groups across Wales for our winter campaign.
There are many, but here are just a few of the communities who supported us this year:
To celebrate Cymru being part of the World Cup, we hosted a World Cup Sweepstake. A huge thank you to the football fanatics who played.
Saint Ffraids music sessions hosted a Christmas Cracker event in Holyhead that had local bands and local food trucks come together for an incredible event. The night raised an amazing £562!
Thank you to Llysworney Community Association, who raised a fantastic £220 from their Christmas carol sessions.
The wonderful Cardiff Canton Singers raised a joyous amount singing in pubs across Pontcanna throughout December.
A huge thank you to Monmouthshire Comprehensive school for donating items to one of our Newport projects – this made a huge difference to people experiencing homelessness over Christmas.
Thank you to Seren, who raised £100 for The Wallich by hosting a bake sale at her school. She made and sold an incredible 175 in 15 minutes – a new baking star in the making.
Thank you to Holy Trinity, Aberaeron, who donated £150.
Thank you to Skanda Vale, who kindly donated 65 hampers to the people we support in Carmarthenshire.
Thanks to Zion English Baptist Church in Wrexham, who donated £250.
Thank you to Antioch Christian Centre who generously donated 59 hampers to our clients in Carmarthenshire.
We are so thankful to the organisations across Wales who have gone the extra mile to help us make homelessness history.
Lot11, a café situated in Wrexham, who took part in The Wallich’s hospitality menu initiative and donated 50p from each Turkey Toastie they sold, raising a fantastic £250.
A big thanks to the team at Aventido who ran their seasonal event ‘12 AT’s of Christmas’ and kindly donated £350 to The Wallich.
We were lucky enough to do three store collections in Morrisons in three locations. Thank you to the Morrisons shoppers in Llanelli, Swansea and Aberystwyth for being so generous.
Thank you to the extremely kind team at Y Farmers gastro pub in Ceredigion who provided 24 hot dinners to our residential projects in Aberystwyth on Christmas Eve.
Huge thank you to Tesco in Aberystwyth allowing us to do an instore collection and to the Aberystwyth community for always being so welcoming to The Wallich.
Huge thank you to The Stable Cardiff who took part in The Wallich’s hospitality menu initiative and donated 50p from every Festive Full Monty pizza sold. They sold 467 festive pizzas, raising an awesome £233.50.
Avo, a café bar in Llanelli, thoughtfully supplied 20, fresh prepacked Christmas dinners for our clients who may otherwise have gone without on Christmas Day.
Thank you to the Asda Foundation in Llangefni who generously donated £500 to our Housing First and Stepping Stones Project on Anglesey.
A huge thanks to Newport based, Scout Coffee Roasters for donating a portion of their profits from their seasonal coffee – Festive Blend.
Thank you to CDS Security LTD who generously donated 26 Christmas lunches to our service users in Llanelli.
“Thank you to everyone who gave this winter.
“The cost of living crisis has put enormous pressure on those people at risk of homelessness and those experiencing homelessness in Wales.
At a time when everyone is feeling the pinch, it is so inspiring to see such a strong community response to homelessness. Diolch yn fawr pawb!”
Whilst our annual winter campaign has come to an end, you can still support The Wallich.
Homelessness does not end with the winter season.
The Wallich is there for people 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will continue to for as long as needed.
Support The Wallich and help us make homelessness history in Wales.
