The Hazel Project (THP) Trustees 2025 Yearly Report
Financially, THP has had another successful year. Of note is that our spending has increased massively (by almost 500%), although so has our income. God has continued to be so generous and gracious to us through you, our supporters, who support us both in financially and in prayer. Our enormous thanks go out to you all. We cannot operate without your generosity.
As mentioned in last year's report, free rehab places, especially at Yeldall Manor have become very hard to come by, due to financial cuts in all areas of social support and government charity funding. We feel it has become our calling to start funding select rehab places for the most appropriate clients who are, of course, in desperate need, but also showing signs of a real desire to change in their lives. At the start of 2025, God had allowed us to build a bank balance amazingly allowing us to do this for two individuals during the year, despite these rehab places being mightily expensive. Our spending on rehab in 2025 was nearly £22K, but incredibly generous donors have meant that our yearly income has almost matched this. Because of this new strand of expense and need for long term increased funding, we have appointed a Fundraising Co-ordinator, who will present our purposes and needs as a charity to churches and businesses in the Southampton area. We aim to produce a polished presentation and video. This will not be a “hard sell” but we do want to give organisations a chance to know who we are, what we do, and give God an opportunity to inspire them to give. With God's grace, we know He will ultimately provide the funds for what we need to do and the work He has for us.
Another new direction this year has been the start of what we are calling “Outreach Plus”. We have been finding that take-up of our mentorship scheme has been poor of late, and we also feel that very few of our clients actually have lives organised enough to benefit from such a longer-term and organised arrangement. Even the more organised of our folk lead such chaotic lives that regular engagement with one volunteer on a regular basis over six months is just something that they cannot keep up. Hence we have started Outreach Plus, which has many similar traits to the mentorship, in that it is mainly one volunteer teaming up with one client, but this is to cover a fixed period of need. This might be a hospital admission, preparation for rehab or even the filling out of forms/financial advice etc. This seems to usually be for a shorter period of time and the clients seem to be able to engage in a more positive way to this type of connection. It is something we are feeling our way into currently but it seems like it is proving to be a more effective use of volunteers time and energies.
Despite the huge spend on rehab fees skewing the “% of total yearly spending” statistics (in the figure on page 2) compared to last year's figures the actual spending on most of our “bread & butter” items this year has been at or around very similar levels to last year. A notable exception has been the minimal spending on training this year, which is probably mainly due to the large training input we gave to our volunteers during 2024. Another exception was spending on transport, which was significantly increased compared to 2024. This is largely down to spending on taxis for Linda, our Team Leader, who is dependent on a wheelchair out of the house, and who is such a critical part of most of what THP does. She has had far less availability of lifts this year and most of this year's transport spending was on taxis for her. This was decided by the trustees to be appropriate, within reasonable limits, as she is a constant and vital part of our activities and so many things simply would not happen if she could not make certain journeys for which she is unable to get a lift for. If at all possible, she gets a lift or takes the bus (if her energy and time allows).
As always, food and drink is a key way that we initially connect with the street community and spending continues to reflect this, being very similar to last year. There also continues to be a strong appetite for crucifix and other Christian jewellery within the street community and our spending continues to be strong on these items, even a little bit higher than last year. These jewellery items frequently become treasured possessions for folk who have very very little. Offering these items also seems an excellent way to initiate conversations about faith. Our new THP silicone wristbands with the THP motto words “TRUST HOPE RESPECT” and our contact number have also been very popular on the streets of Southampton !
Volunteer numbers have stayed fairly stable, although we are always on the lookout for mature Christian people who feel a calling to love these Street folk, and have some time
The Hazel Project Itemised Spending 2025
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76%
Total spending in 2025 - £28,711.84
2025 starting THP bank balance - £15,678.19
70- 20205 ending THP bank balance - £7,429.31
Total income in 2025 £ 20,462.96
Itemised spending
60-
Rehab Fees - £21,851.38
Overheads/bank charges - £185.60
Clothing - £265.03
50- Food/Drinks/Cups - £2,682.29
Printing, books & stationery - £557.49
Miscellaneous - £477.57
Communication & postage - £441.94
40- Transport & parking - £1095.05
Training - £80.00
Jewellery - £819.49
Accomodation - £256.00
30-
20-
9 %
10-
4% 3%
2% <1% 2% 1% <1% 2% <1%
0
Rehab Fees Food/drink Training Clothes Transport & postage Jewellery
Miscellaneous & Stationery Printing, Books bank charges Overheads & Communication Accomodation
% of total yearly spending
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