There are a number of charitable groups associated with St Michael’s. For example, FreshStart is a charity that provides people with the essentials required to start a new life. These essentials cover basic items such as toiletries, bedding and crockery, but also, the teaching of handy skills like cooking and decorating. At St Michael’s, we are fortunate to have two FreshStart representatives within our congregation. If you wish to make a donation, please call 0131 441 1328. Or if you would like to volunteer, please contact Alasdair and Babs Webster, either by email or by phone on 0131 476 7741.
A special thank you during the pandemic.
As a key service provider, the warehouse remains a hub of activity and has been able to distribute over 3,000 Emergency Packs to those in need since the beginning of the pandemic! It has been hard work and a real team effort from everyone at FreshStart, their partner organisations, funders and supporters but getting feedback like below from those who have received the packs reminds us how much of a lifeline they are for people during this challenging time.
- 90% of people who received the packs said they enabled them to feed themselves and/or their family.
- 94% of people who received the packs said they helped to ease their financial pressures.
- 90% of people who received the packs said they helped to ease their stress/worries
- 62% of people who received the packs said they stopped them from having to borrow money or incur debt to buy items.
FreshStart hope that, when it is safe to do, they will be able to start taking donations of goods again (although this will likely be a bit different to how it’s been done previously in order to comply with health and safety).