As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to look back on what we’ve all achieved together. Throughout the year we’ve enjoyed many meals and conversations together, both at our popular Monday lunchtime ‘Welcome Centre’, on Monday evenings at our weekly house meal and at other events and parties through the year. These meals together and the friendships formed through them have always been at the heart of BHN & provide some much needed encouragement for all of us.
Many people have found support this year through our continued offer of solidarity to people in Bristol. For some people, having a stable place to live with BHN has enabled them to pursue their claim for asylum and to be granted leave to remain in the UK with the right to live and work in our city. For others still stuck in a cycle of destitution, BHN continues to provide support through financial support, a safe place to live, sharing meals, volunteering opportunities, plus vital advocacy and help to enable people to move forward with resolving the issues and navigating the faceless bureaucratic systems that have often led them to become destitute.
Our network is what we all make it. In 2016 at least 100 people have volunteered their time with BHN which is a sign of how the network is growing. Many generous people have supported BHN financially or in other ways. So thank you for the part that you have played in BHN this year. It really is the commitment and contributions of every single person in the network that makes this a special organisation to be part of, so much so that some people describe BHN as feeling like being ‘part of a family’.
So whether you have volunteered your time, used your skills, kept in touch with our newsletters, donated money, hosted someone in your home, given advice or support, cooked food, joined in a meal, taken part in an event, taken the time to have a conversation or played your part in any other way – we all offer you our thanks.
We wish you a hopeful new year and hope that you will join us as we continue our journey together in 2017.