As a supporter of Assist, you already know of the work we do helping refused asylum seekers in Sheffield, and your contribution to this work is what has made it possible. What you may not know is that our work has grown over the last two years and we now support around 70 of the most destitute refused asylum seekers, mostly with welfare payments (usually £20 a week) and some with accommodation, either with hosts or in our four houses.
We also run an advocacy service to help our clients access support they may be entitled to, or move their claims forward. And our help desk every Wednesday gives general advice and guidance to many more than we are able to help financially, by signposting them to other agencies, helping them to fill in forms, or even to make sense of all the paperwork they receive.
We also campaign as individuals about the plight of asylum seekers at every opportunity.
In 2008 -09 we will have spent around £130 thousand on this work. About half of this was from grants, and the other half from donations from our many supporters. But like everyone else, we have been hit by the financial crisis, and for us the effects are particularly desperate. Much of our grant funding ends before March 2009, and we have seen our donations reduce significantly in the last two months.
Our direct payments to destitute asylum seekers cost us £1300 a week , and running our small office and paying our administrator costs around another £500. On top of this we pay the costs of four houses for asylum seekers, as well as small grants to volunteers who take asylum seekers into their homes. We also provide bus passes for some of our clients. It would be impossible to carry on all our work without an office or a paid administrator to back up our 50+ volunteers. We are therefore faced with the deeply distressing need to reduce the amount we give to our clients in grants, while aware that even the current £20 a week is inadequate. Next financial year will bring even tougher decisions unless we can raise a significant sum of money.
We need to raise a further £15,000 to maintain our welfare payments at their current rate until the end of March, and at least £70,000 over and above our regular donations in 2009-10 to carry on our work at anything like the current level of activity. We are working hard to raise some of what we need through grants and events, but all funders are hard pressed.
Please can you help us? We recognise that this is a very hard time, both for peoples’ income and also for all the other charities that deserve support. But your help and the efforts of our committed volunteers have enabled us to build up a strong support system for these destitute and desperate people among us, who otherwise feel friendless. Please help us to keep going.