Can you help us provide food for people who are homeless over winter?
Emmanuel House’s Winter Shelter will be reopening on the University Park campus on Monday 17th October. It will provide short-term emergency accommodation for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Nottingham. We will provide 24-hour support for up to 24 people a night until the end of March 2023.
Our team of specialist staff and hardworking volunteers will be providing three meals a day for up to 24 people for 25 weeks. That’s up to 72 meals a day and 504 meals a week. Potentially we could be serving 12,600 meals this season. So we need the help of our community to donate food and help some of Nottingham’s most vulnerable citizens.
For people that arrive at our Winter Shelter, hot food and a warm welcome is the beginning of their journey towards resettlement. It’s important for our guests to have healthy, well-balanced nutritious meals.
How can you help provide food donations in Nottingham for people who would otherwise be rough sleeping over winter?
We will be batch cooking food at Emmanuel House’s kitchen and making daily deliveries to the Winter Shelter for lunch and dinner. We also provide breakfast and snacks, as well as packed lunches for those working during the day. We need ingredients so that we can cook these fresh, tasty meals.
We would gratefully accept the following non-perishable food. In order to avoid food waste, we have put together a list of our most-needed items:
Snacks
- Biscuits
- Snack bars
- Cereal bars
- Crisps
- Pot noodles
- Instant pasta pots
Ingredients
- Tinned beans
- Tinned meatballs
- Tinned meat
- Tinned tuna
- Tinned spaghetti
- Pasta
- Rice
- Jars of cooking sauces
- Granulated sugar
Breakfast
- Porridge pots
- Porridge sachets
- Boxes of cereal
- Strawberry jam
- Peanut butter
- Chocolate spread
Drinks
- Instant coffee
- Hot chocolate
- Cordial
- Cans of soft drinks
- Cartons of juice
- Fruit tea
- Peppermint tea
Clothing
- Jogging bottoms (size small and medium)
- T-shirts (size small and medium)
- Men’s boxer shorts (brand new)
- Women’s underwear (brand new)
- Socks
- Men’s shoes (size 8-10)
- Men’s trainers (size 8-10)
Please bring your non-perishable food donations to Emmanuel House Support Centre, 53-61 Goose Gate, Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 1FE between Monday – Friday 10:00am – 4:00pm.
Order food from our Amazon Wishlist
You can order non-perishable food from our Amazon Wishlist and it will be delivered straight to our door.
Supermarket deliveries and vouchers
You can order supermarket vouchers for us to buy fresh food with when the Winter Shelter opens on 17th October. Our preferred supermarkets are Asda, Tesco and Iceland. When purchasing the gift cards, please use the following for the ‘recipient information’:
Recipient name: Winter Shelter
Email address: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk
Address: 53-61 Goose Gate, Nottingham, NG1 1FE
If you’d like to make an online supermarket delivery, please get in touch so we can let you know what we’re most in need of that week: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk
If you have any queries about your donations, please get in touch: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk
If you are a food supplier or hospitality business, please get in touch to discuss any other items or services you could help us with.
Please visit our donations page for an FAQ about our Harvest Collection, as well as downloadable assets for you to share with your community.
About the Winter Shelter
The Winter Shelter serves the needs of homeless and vulnerable people during the coldest months of the season. We provide people with shelter, acceptance, physical and emotional support, and encouragement in making positive changes in their lives. Anyone over the age of 18 can access the services regardless of their personal characteristics or cultural identity.
The Winter Shelter provides a lifeline for the most vulnerable people in our society, giving them a safe space where they can find welcome, warmth and rest, food and drink and support and advice that can help them move away from homelessness to a brighter future. If the Winter Shelter is unable to operate, many needy people will be at risk, this year even more than usual. Homeless people face not only the usual dangers from cold and wet weather, but also additional dangers of catching and spreading Covid-19 whilst sleeping rough or sofa surfing and unable to readily access healthcare.
Mark stayed in our Winter Shelter in 2021
“I split up with my partner and was sleeping in my car for 6 weeks. It was October and it suddenly got very cold and damp. I’m classed as disabled and was speaking to someone at the council for help. They told me to ring the Street Outreach team and they came to see me in my car. The next day, I was referred to Emmanuel House’s Night Shelter. I was one of the first people to stay there.
“I’m very grateful to the staff there. They helped me tremendously. They took me off the streets, gave me a comfortable bed, did my washing, fed me nice food and helped me with my Universal Credit. I’m now living in private rented accommodation.
“I take my hat off to Viv. She ran a very good house. She gave everyone one chance and everyone respected her. I came away thinking the staff were amazing.
“I’ve never taken drugs and I don’t drink. I suppose I’m different to the kind of people that you’d stereotypically think would be on the streets. Staying at the Winter Shelter has helped me to understand other people. That’s worth its weight in gold. I always stereotyped people that are ‘homeless’ and now I look at people who live on the streets very differently. I have stayed friends with a few people I lived with at the Winter Shelter and continue to support them if I can.”
Downloadable poster:
