A BED BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Help us make sure nobody has to face a freezing night on the streets of Wigan and Leigh this Christmas.
This winter, The Brick is taking action to help people sleeping rough find a safe place to stay and a route away from the streets.
We have just 10 weeks to transform underused space at The Brick Works into a 16-bed emergency night shelter – giving people somewhere safe, warm and welcoming to come inside during the coldest nights of the year.
A safe place to come in from the cold
For someone sleeping rough, a cold winter night can be frightening, dangerous and exhausting.
A Bed Before Christmas will create a warm, secure space where people can sleep, eat, shower, access essential items and begin to get the support they need.
Our aim isn’t simply to provide somewhere to sleep for one night.
It’s to create a starting point.
When someone comes through our doors, our team can sit with them, understand their circumstances and begin connecting them with housing, health and other support.
Because a bed is only the beginning.
What your donation could provide
The building work needed to transform the space is being supported by businesses across Wigan and Leigh. Now we need our community to help us fill that space with the things people will need when they arrive.
Your donation could help provide:
Warm beds, bedding and furniture
Hot meals, breakfasts and drinks
Toiletries, towels and clean clothing
Travel costs and other practical essentials
ID and documents needed to access housing and support
Additional staffing and support throughout winter
The small things that can help someone feel human again after a night – or many nights – on the streets
For someone who has been sleeping outside in December, having somewhere warm and safe to come inside could make an enormous difference.
More than a bed
We want A Bed Before Christmas to be about more than getting through a cold night.
It’s about what happens next.
Our team will work alongside people staying at the shelter, helping them access the services and support they need and, wherever possible, begin working towards a future where they don’t have to return to the streets.
Because homelessness isn’t simply about not having a bed.
It’s about everything that can lead someone to lose their home – and the barriers they can face when trying to find a way forward.
That’s why the shelter will be about safety, dignity, support and opportunity.
Our community can make this happen
This is a challenge that sits right here in our community – and the solution can sit here too.
The building is ours.
Local businesses are helping us transform it.
Our staff and partners will be there to support people.
Now we need our community to help us fill it with everything someone needs to feel safe, warm and cared for.
Whether you can give £5, £20, £100 or more, your donation will help us prepare the shelter and provide essential support throughout the winter.
This Christmas, help us open the door.
While many of us will be heading home, putting the heating on and closing the door against the cold, there will be people wondering where they will sleep that night.
We believe nobody should have to face that alone.
Together, we can give someone a safe place to sleep, support when they need it and a chance to start moving forward.