Homelessness & Poverty

Jaspar Foundation gifted a large sum of furniture items to New Hope, a Homeless charity in Watford.

The furniture was used to replace old furniture in residents rooms, giving it a fresh new look and a more welcome feel. The dining chairs were used in the Dining Room to encourage more residents to eat together. The TVs were a welcome addition to the Sanctuary. During Covid restrictions, a number of the residents who were self-isolating had the comfort of a TV in their own rooms, which was beneficial for their mental health.

Some of the furniture items were used in residents  homes when they moved to their own rehoused/assisted or council properties. This is often an overwhelmingly expensive time and knowing that there is some furniture available for them to take with them makes the transition into independent living far less stressful.

Jaspar Foundation made a substantial donation to Harrow Foodbank and Firm Foundation in order to help relieve poverty and homelessness in Harrow.

The funds were used to purchase a van to enable the foodbank to make deliveries of vital food boxes to people who are not able to get to their distribution points.

“We give out food boxes at a number of distribution points in the centre of Harrow. Having a van will mean that we can reach people who for one reason or another cannot get to our distribution sessions. This may be because of a disability or because they are a carer and cannot leave the person they are looking after.”

The Foundation also supported the Harrow homeless charity Firm Foundation to run its Winter Night Shelter.

Jaspar Foundation kickstarted 2021 with support for Buses4Homeless, a holistic solution to homelessness in London.

Decommissioned buses are refurbished into spaces for eating, sleeping, wellbeing and learning, in order to re-engage homeless people back into the community.

Our donation was used to support people through the Buses4Homeless 3-6 month intensive programme and the Community Outreach Bus. The bus goes out into the community helping the vulnerable and homeless with PPE provision to protect them from COVID-19, toiletries and other food and essential items.

Leatherhead Start is a hostel for homeless people, open during the day and night. It offers emergency short-term accommodation for homeless men and women over the age of 18, individual Learning Development programmes, resettlement into move-on accommodation and support services post resettlement.

Jaspar Foundation’s donation has helped to maintain and upgrade the IT equipment and enabled users to search for employment and more permanent accommodations, helping them to be more independent. This directly enhances the lives of those who use the hostel.

Wells on Wheels has come up with a fantastic solution to young poor girls in India carrying water from one place to another. Supporting Wells on Wheels means that Jaspar Foundation is also helping to break the cycle of poverty. The Water Wheel carries 5 times more water than a regular pail. It is rolled by hand rather instead of being head loaded, therefore preventing musculoskeletal issues, loss of babies if the women are pregnant and preventing growth issues in children.

Young girls, alongside their mothers make 3-4 trips back and forth from the well taking up the entire day, as the wells are 2-5km away from the home and this ends up being their full-time job. Wells on Wheels provide one Water Wheel to a family, which means mothers can make one trip per day instead of 4 and the daughters are not required to bring any additional water. Not only is the Water Wheel invention helping to break the cycle of poverty by empowering bright young girls to attain an education, it is also protecting these young girls from all kinds of sexual assault that takes place en route to and from the wells.