More About Our Mission
Birmingham Christmas Shelter is a local charity that has raised funds and recruited volunteers each year since 1974 to provide local homeless and other adults who would be alone at Christmas, with a free warm, safe place to eat, shower, sleep and enjoy Christmas. Each year we open our doors for 24 hours a day for several days and nights during the Christmas week and publish the venue we use on this website.
Each year an average of 120 people a day, a mixture of regular guests and new faces, are provided with three hot meals, sandwiches and snacks. This is despite local restaurants, pubs and churches who also open their doors on an ad hoc basis to provide free food in Birmingham city centre. At night the numbers sleeping over with us average 50 men and 5 women.
Apart from our amazing team of 250 trained volunteers who range from age 16 to 90, several service providers such as hairdressers, chefs, chiropodists, chiropractors, arts and crafts teachers, counsellors, aromatherapists and entertainers come in each year and give their time and skills for free. We are always keen to hear from people able to offer services we could use. Anyone who would like to be a volunteer for Shelter Week should keep an eye on our website as registration normally opens on 1st November with training provided late November/early December.
Fundraising continues to feature strongly during the year as we receive no public funding. Even with a negligible spend on administration, it is essential for us to fund key aspects of our services as well as offset increases in our costs because some of our corporate suppliers have had to cut back on what they give us. Cash donations are particularly useful as they pay for the heating of the building, insurances, hire of security, groceries and hire and storage of essential equipment.
