Winter Homelessness Support Fund Making a Difference in Stroud and Gloucester

In late 2025, Feeding Gloucestershire collaborated with Healthwatch Gloucestershire to deliver the Winter Homelessness Support Fund, helping local charities provide essential meals and support to people experiencing homelessness during the coldest months. We are thrilled to share the impact of the grants awarded to the Marah Trust in Stroud and Community Kitchen Glos in Gloucester.

Marah Trust: Sustaining Vital Services

The Marah Trust used the funding to pay for food essential to their service, which covers drop-in sessions and take-away meals for guests facing challenges such as mobility issues, anxiety, or transport difficulties.

  • Total Impact: Over 34 sessions in December and January, they served 1,953 hot meals to guests and their loved ones.
  • Rough Sleeper Support: The funding helped produce 300 branded flasks for rough sleeper parcels, paired with leaflets showing locations for free water refills.
  • Life-Saving Intervention: The funding helped support a gentleman sleeping rough for the first time by escalating a referral to Julian House, securing emergency shelter for him over Christmas.
A handwritten Christmas card that says, "To the Wonderful Marah Guys, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Without your lovely hot dinners & welcoming spirits it would be a very long, cold & HUNGRY winter! BLESSINGS." It includes a small cartoon drawing of a face saying "Yum, Yum."
A man in a red jacket and a "Kingsholm" bobble hat and a woman in a pink puffer jacket smiling as they pull a silver Christmas cracker together at a community event.
A volunteer wearing a red reindeer-print apron stands with her arm around a seated guest wearing a paper party hat. They are both smiling in a decorated community hall during a Christmas meal.

“One rough sleeper came to us and said that he’d spent a December night sleeping out in a public park, the following morning being thirsty he went to a local leisure centre and asked for a glass of water only to be refused. He came to see us not too long after our first encounter and said that if it wasn’t for our intervention he would have been on the streets on Christmas Day and that for him, symbolically, was too much and he would’ve considered taking his own life.”

– Adam Jones, Services Manager

Community Kitchen Glos: Spreading Festive Cheer

For Community Kitchen Glos, the fund provided a sense of belonging and “treats” alongside nutritional food during a difficult time of year.

  • Winter Support: Funded 739 regular meals throughout December, ensuring consistent hot food and support in the lead-up to the festive period.
  • Christmas Dinner: On 22nd December 2025, volunteer chefs served a 3-course Christmas dinner to 75 guests.
  • Festive Gifts: The grant allowed the charity to purchase wrapped Christmas presents of socks and chocolates for every attendee, which for many guests was the only present they received.
  • Community Warmth: Dedicated volunteers ensured the hall was filled with music, laughter, and community support.
A woman wearing a festive patterned Christmas jumper and a "Becky" name tag smiles while holding three plates of Christmas dinner. Each plate contains roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sprouts, and a Yorkshire pudding.
A view through a wooden serving hatch decorated with a "Merry Christmas" banner. In the kitchen, volunteers wearing aprons and hairnets are busy preparing food and clearing up during the festive meal.
A man wearing a reindeer Christmas jumper, glasses, and a green paper party hat smiles broadly while holding a tray of four bowls of Christmas pudding topped with custard.
A close-up, top-down shot of a volunteer pouring warm yellow custard from a jug onto a slice of dark, fruit-filled Christmas pudding in a light green bowl.

“In total, we served 75 Christmas dinners, and our guests loved it! We don’t believe the grant funds just a meal service; it helps us continue to support a community. And over the festive period, it helped us provide a whole Christmas for a hall full of people who would not otherwise have had one.” – Ruth Thomas, Lead Volunteer

Summary

In summary, the Winter Homelessness Support Fund successfully enabled partner charities to deliver well over 2,000 hot meals in Stroud and Gloucester. Beyond physical nourishment, this funding provided critical advocacy tools, fostered vital community connections, and ensured vulnerable individuals felt supported during the festive period. This initiative highlights the profound impact that targeted funding can have on improving the lives of those experiencing homelessness in our community.

Read the full story behind the fund here and sign up for our newsletter to hear about future support opportunities.