2021-04-01-accounts - Hull Help For Refugees

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Annual Report April 2020/2021

This year marked our 6th anniversary as an organisation, and 3[rd] year as a charity.
We have had to change our main focus this year because of lockdown. We have been unable to easily send items abroad as we had done in the past.
We have focused on fundraising, raising awareness and towards the end of the financial year on helping asylum seekers and refugees based locally.
We have continued to expand and have 100 volunteers and are followed by nearly 4000 people on our Facebook page.
We raised £24.500.
Donated £23,000 to other organisations.

We have focussed on fundraising rather than collecting items, sorting, and salvaging.

This means we have been able to continue to support Anne in Athens, Care for Calais, and other charities for example based in the Balkans and Bangladesh.

As lockdown eased we have collected clothing and household items to distribute to asylum seekers housed locally. We have worked jointly with local charities, especially Welcome House.

Re: the future, we will have to move premises at the end of August. We are anticipating using our 3 containers to store items to distribute locally and we will continue organising and participating in fund raising events to raise more money to help asylum seekers locally and abroad.

Main activity April 2020/April 2021.

We have had some large fundraisers:

Sponsored cycle ride, this was originally planned to go from Hull to Calais, but volunteers raised £6,200, Cycling and doing other exercise locally and individually.
Birthday fundraisers, £2,500
Mel Bonney £700
Joe Solo – raised £5,000, which we sent straight to Care for Calais.
We are now receiving regular donations of over £400 a month.
Other Activity.
We took part in a national collection of hygiene products which were sent to Asylum seekers and refugees in Greece.
Many masks were made and sold by volunteers to raise funds.
We started a virtual quiz, which raises on average £200 a month.
Part of our objectives as a charity is to raise awareness of issues relating to asylum seekers and refugees. We hosted 6 zoom events during the year, including the showing of the acclaimed documentary ,a Syrian Love Story, with a Q&A with the Director Sean McCallister. This session was chaired by Nadine Shah, a Mercury prize nominated musician.

We also heard about: MARDi, an organisation working with homeless asylum seekers in Paris, Action for Education, which works with children in Greece, Care for Calais, and Anne told us about the situation in Athens.

Local activity

Locally, over the last year (lock down permitted), we have been able to offer a service to families and individuals in the community to enable them to choose items that have been donated to us’ These have included :

Items of bedding such as duvets, duvet covers, sheets and pillowcases: curtains and towels.
Kitchen equipment, cooking utensils, crockery and cutlery. Bins and other household items.
PAT tested electrical items such as lamps, slow cookers, hair dryers, Televisions, etc. (We have a volunteer who is a qualified PAT tester)
Bric a brac, toys, and games.
Items of clothing and shoes.

People can occasionally take the items they have selected with them at the time, but due to the quantity, we usually deliver them to their homes either on that day or as soon as we can. We have ‘set up’ a delivery group to accommodate this need.

We will often make a note of items they need/require and contact them when these have been donated. There is an understanding that we provide what we have had donated, although when specific items are viewed as necessary, we will purchase them from our funds. This would usually be if it involved items for babies, young children or for health and wellbeing.

We also signpost people to other organisations like Grow baby or the food bank.

The numbers of families and individuals vary, but we usually welcome around four or five in an average week. This is usually on Friday afternoons, although we can in exceptional circumstances and if we are able to, extend this and open at other times.

Working with Other Organisations

We have worked very closely with other relevant organisations in the city, especially Welcome House, which will soon be opening in the city centre to provide help and support to asylum seekers and refugees. We have provided support to homeless charities and organisations providing support to deprived families.

Some of the specific local activities included:

preparing and delivering over 130 gift bags to the hotel, ready to give the people there a surprise at Christmas.
HHfR Volunteers distributing much needed items (including cooking equipment, clothes, bedding, toys etc) from The Avenues Centre, to families that had been identified by Welcome House and HHfR.
Delivering Christmas gift bags across the city to families that had been identified by Welcome House.

Future Development Locally.

After discussions with one of the Welcome House Volunteers, it has been decided that we will :

Work closely with Welcome House and other agencies in the city to identify and provide much needed support to the asylum seeking families housed locally as well as the young men housed in the hotel.

Conclusion

All of the last year we have been subject to restrictions due to the global pandemic. We have also been aware, that this has made the situation a lot more difficult for people already in a desperate situation, both in Hull and abroad.

We have found ways to be flexible and still achieve our objectives. Our income has more than doubled, and one of our future plans to continue to increase this by asking for regular donations.

We will have to leave our main centre at the end of August, and Hull CC has committed to providing us with different accommodation. We have been allocated a room at Welcome House, and will be working closely with them in the future.

We can only exist with the goodwill and energy of our many volunteers, and people who support us financially. It is clear that the situation for people seeking asylum globally is worsening, and we are keen to play a part, albeit very small in helping people in desperate circumstances both home and abroad.

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Charity Name No (if any)
Hull Help for Refugees 1176555
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 4/2/2020 4/1/2021
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds
funds funds funds
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Donations 19,222 - - 19,222
Events 4,714 - - 4,714
Gift Aid 738 - - 738
Other Income 13 - - 13
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
24,687 - - 24,687
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 24,687 - - 24,687
A3 Payments
Donations paid out 23,032 - - 23,032
Operating Expenses 1,254 - - 1,254
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ 24,286 ] - - 24,286
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
Container - - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 24,286 - - 24,286
Net of receipts/(payments) 401 - - 401
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 2,549 - - 2,549
Cash funds this year end 2,950 - - 2,950
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

			Unrestricted		Restricted
Categories	Details		funds		funds
B1 Cash funds	Cash at Bank Cash at PayPal Less Deferred Income *Total cash funds*		to nearest £ 3,223 727 - 1,000 2,950		to nearest £ - - - -
	(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))		OK	OK
			Unrestricted		Restricted
			funds		funds
B2 Other monetary assets	Details Deferred Income		to nearest £ 1,000 - - - - -		to nearest £ - - - - - -
B3 Investment assets	Details		Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional) - - - - -
B4 Assets retained for the	Details Container		Unrestricted Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional) 2,392
charity’s own use					- - - - - - - -
			Fund to which		Amount due
B5 Liabilities	Details		liability relates		- - - - - (optional)
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees		Signature	Print	Name
			Leonne Griggs

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CC16a
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Last year

to the nearest £

10,978 3,266 - 75 - - - - 14,319

14,319

8,650 2,366 - - - - - - - 11,016

2,392 2,392 13,408 911 - 1,638 2,549

Endowment funds

to nearest £ - - - -

Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - -

Current value (optional) - - - - -

Current value (optional)

When due (optional)

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Date of
approval
9/22/2021
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