This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information.(January 2017) |
Formation | 1932 |
---|---|
Type | Charity |
Location |
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Staff | 25 |
Website | www.veterans-aid.net |
Veterans Aid is a UK charity providing support to ex-servicemen and women (Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, RAF or Merchant Navy), and their widows and widowers. [1]
It operates from two locations: a Drop-in Centre/Head Office in central London (Victoria) and a residential home (New Belvedere House) in east London (Stepney).
The charity's core business is averting and/or addressing crisis, particularly where it threatens to lead to homelessness.
Veterans Aid was established in 1932 (designated originally as EFC – The Embankment Fellowship Centre) as a direct response to the homelessness caused by poverty and unemployment among the ex-service community in London.
It was founded by Mrs Gwendoline Huggins, whose husband was Adjutant of The Royal Hospital Chelsea from 1932–35. [2] Moved by the sight of men who had served their country sleeping on the capital’s streets and along the Thames Embankment, she decided to do something practical to remedy it. This led to the opening in January 1932 of H10, a canteen and recreation room for destitute ex-services personnel in Lambeth, South London. [3]
In 2007 the charity was renamed Veterans Aid, and its remit extended from homelessness to all issues affecting veterans in crisis. [4]
The charity's patron is the Dowager Viscountess Rothermere. [5]
In general terms, all the charity’s activities revolve around helping ex-servicemen and women in crisis. Specifically it deals with all the factors that contribute to crisis, especially those leading to homelessness. Because homelessness is considered both a cause and an effect of dysfunction, the charitable activities are diverse. The charity's aim is to restore veterans in crisis to a point where they can sustain productive, independent living.
The charity aims to tackle rough sleeping through a commitment to 'No First Night Out'. The charity will provide food, new clothing and safe accommodation immediately to those seeking, and qualifying for, its help.
Subsequent interventions can include counselling, addiction treatment and rehabilitation, debt management and, where appropriate, access to education, retraining or the acquisition of a new skill. Help is given to identify employment opportunities and, when veterans are considered ready, help is provided to source appropriately decorated and furnished homes. [6]
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
A veteran is a person who has significant experience and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
Centrepoint is a charity in the United Kingdom which provides accommodation and support to homeless people aged 16–25. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, has been a patron of the organization since 2005; his first patronage. His mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was patron of the organization before she died.
Maiko Jeong Shun Lee, Viscountess Rothermere is a Japanese-born Korean philanthropist and patron of the arts active in New York City, Paris and London. She is the widow of the 3rd Viscount Rothermere, proprietor of British newspaper the Daily Mail, whom she married in 1993, having been his mistress for many years.
SSAFA – the Armed Forces charity, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, is a UK charity that provides lifelong support to serving men and women and veterans from the British Armed Forces and their families or dependents. Anyone who is currently serving or has ever served in the Royal Navy, British Army or Royal Air Force and their families, both regulars and reserves, is eligible for their help.
ABF The Soldiers' Charity, formerly the Army Benevolent Fund, is the national charity of the British Army. Since 1944, it has provided a lifetime of support to soldiers, veterans and their immediate families when they are in need.
Dogs Trust, known until 2003 as the National Canine Defence League, is a British animal welfare charity and humane society which specialises in the well-being of dogs. It is the largest dog welfare charity in the United Kingdom, caring for over 15,000 animals each year. Dogs Trust's primary objective is to protect all dogs in the UK and elsewhere from maltreatment, cruelty and suffering. It focuses on the rehabilitation and rehoming of dogs which have been either abandoned or given up by their owners through rehoming services.
In England, local authorities have duties to homeless people under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002. There are five hurdles which a homeless person must overcome in order to qualify as statutory homeless. If an applicant only meets the first three of these tests Councils still have a duty to provide interim accommodation. However an applicant must satisfy all five for a Council to have to give an applicant "reasonable preference" on the social housing register. Even if a person passes these five tests councils have the ability to use the private rented sector to end their duty to a homeless person.
The Gurkha Welfare Trust is a British charity established in 1969. It is the principal UK charity for the provision of aid to Gurkha ex-servicemen and their dependants in their homeland of Nepal, and increasingly in the UK and elsewhere.
Blesma, The Limbless Veterans is a British charity that helps all serving and ex-Service men and women who have lost limbs, or lost the use of limbs or eyes, to rebuild their lives by providing rehabilitation activities and welfare support. It operates throughout the United Kingdom and is a registered charity.
Project Compass is a UK charity which was set up in 2003. It was first run as a 12-month pilot project, based in London: this provided a template work across the United Kingdom. The pilot project was funded by contributions from the defence industry (£40,000), and the ODPM Homelessness Directorate (£23,500). The charity is notable as the only charity working in the area of homelessness among ex service personnel, and also for its Royal patronage.
Help for Heroes (H4H) is a British charity which provides lifelong recovery support to British Armed Forces service personnel who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty, and to their families, originally only since 11 September 2001, though this restriction was subsequently removed. The charity has supported more than 25,000 individuals since 2007, through its physical, psychological, financial, sports, fellowship, and welfare support services. It was founded in 2007 by Bryn Parry and his wife Emma, after they visited soldiers at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.
Homelessness in the United Kingdom is measured and responded to in differing ways in England, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but affects people living in all areas of the countries.
Smith (1939) is a short film directed by Michael Powell to promote a charity that helped ex-servicemen who had fallen on hard times, starring Ralph Richardson and Flora Robson.
Fairbridge was a UK charity that supported young people aged 13–25 from 1987. Each year it supported around 3,700 disengaged young people who were either not in education, employment or training – or at risk of becoming so – at one of its fifteen centres on the country.
The Not Forgotten Association is a British Armed Forces registered charity for serving and ex-servicemen and women that operates throughout the United Kingdom. The Not Forgotten combats isolation and loneliness in the Armed Forces community by providing entertainment, social activities, challenge holidays and respite breaks for those who are wounded, injured, and sick.
Revolving Doors is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which works across England and Wales. Through research, policy and campaigning work, the organisation aims to improve services for people with multiple needs who are in repeat contact with the criminal justice system.
The Poppy Factory is a factory in Richmond, London, England, where remembrance wreaths are made. It was founded in 1922 to offer employment opportunities to wounded soldiers returning from the First World War, creating remembrance poppies and wreaths for the Royal Family and The Royal British Legion’s annual Poppy Appeal. It is operated by a company that is a registered charity which provides employment support to veterans with health conditions across England and Wales. The factory's production team continues to make remembrance wreaths by hand today.
Glen Art is a Scottish charity helping those from a military background return to civilian life. Their projects and artistic events aim to bring people together and strengthen relationships between ex-service personnel and their communities. Their facility at Erskine provides both dogs and training for veterans and their families.
The Whitechapel Centre is a homeless day-centre and registered charity in Langsdale Street, Liverpool, England. Established in 1975, it works with people in the Liverpool and Sefton areas, offering advice and information about housing. The centre is open 12 hours a day for 365 days a year. From 2018 until the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Whitechapel Centre also offered a night shelter, Labre House.