Happy to help Streetlife realise its vision for 2020
Blackpool-based full-service agency Happy Creative has helped the resort's homeless charity Streetlife launch its vision for a sustainable future.
Guests at their 2020 campaign launch were invited to become “champions” in helping to secure the future of the resort charity.The 2020 campaign launched with emotional speeches from Streetlife’s counsellor, Jacqui Lane, and its CEO, Jane Hugo who said the stigma attached to homelessness has changed over the decades.
And Blackpool’s MP has personally backed the campaign having first become involved with Streetlife over 25 years ago.Gordon Marsden joined Blackpool Mayor Kath Rowson, High Sheriff of Lancashire, John Barnett, the Bishop of Lancaster, Geoff Pearson and other guest at The Village Urban Resort to hear about “Dan” who has turned his life around since becoming involved with the charity as a teenager.
Streetlife wants 2,020 people to sign up to donate just £5 per month by 2020 in order to secure its financial future.The Buchanan Street charity is feeling the impact following a raft of austerity measures which saw it lose more than £150,000 worth of council funding. Established in the early 1980’s by town centre churches to help offer hope to local young people and the opportunity to secure a future.
Mrs Hugo said: “We have two choices; either we allow the funding to run its course and close the doors on hundreds of vulnerable young people or we carry on seeking the funding and support of a community which looks out for each other.“We need people’s help to help turn these lives around which is why the 2020 campaign is so important to us. Without the donations we receive we are unable to plug the deficit this charity has been left with.”
Ms Lane added: “Streetlife is a family for the people who are affected by broken homes, social problems and various other tragic situations.“Dan is just one of hundreds of case studies we have helped over the years and he is now happier and able to build a life away from the situation he found himself in. We gave him the hope to carry on.”
The charity currently provides support to over 400 young people each year by way of emergency accommodation, life-skills training, one-to-one support, assistance in finding more permanent accommodation and referrals to specialist agencies.It is the only organisation providing emergency accommodation to young people in and around Blackpool.
Mr Marsden said: “This is a really important initiative and an incredible testament to the valuable work Streetlife does in helping young people who have real problems in Blackpool. “People need to realise that Lottery funding can only do so much which is why I am backing the 2020 campaign to help people like Dan and the hundreds like him. I have been involved with Streetlife for 25 years and the issue is as important today as it was back in the 1990s.”
