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| QHA Homepage Who We Are |
| QHA Projects What We Do |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
| Contact Us |
| Getting Involved |
| Links |
| QHA is a Company Limited by Guarantee, no. 2978545 and a Registered Charity, no. 1041921. Registered address: Sunny Brae, Allendale Road, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 2NQ |
| The Quaker Homeless Action Council is made up of 12 volunteer Trustees. Business is conducted using the Quaker business method, with a clerk, assistant clerk and treasurer being nominated to roles. QHA also employs a part-time Director. |
| We are currently adding to this site. Please visit us again for more information on all of QHA’s projects. |
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| What does QHA do? |
| What does QHA need? |
| What time of year is best to hold collections? |
| Where can I send donations? |
| Is QHA involved with Asylum Seekers? |
| Does QHA have any links with The Big Issue? |
| Does QHA work with other organisations? |
| What expertise does QHA have? |
| What is the organisational structure of QHA? |
| Does QHA operate it’s own premises? |
| Does QHA do any work outside of London? |
| How can I get involved with QHA? |
| Is there anything that children can do to help QHA? |
| Does QHA support those people marginalised by other agencies, and does it have the resources to cope with this? |
| Is QHA involved in Housing Justice? |
| How does QHA differ from other Quaker organisations such as QSA? |
| What does QHA do? The objective of QHA is to alleviate the poverty and distress of homeless people in the UK. See Aims and Objectives. More details about past, current and future projects can be found on our What We Do page. |
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| What does QHA need? QHA is funded entirely by donations from Friends around the country. It is important that we retain this financial support in order to continue with our work. However, we also require volunteers to work in our Mobile Library and Open Christmas projects, and hope soon to be recruiting volunteers to take part in our forthcoming Befriending project. We are also interested in donations of goods for our projects, including clothes, blankets, toiletries, books, games, food to name but a few. If you feel that you could help in any capacity, or have any skills you feel you could offer our organisation, please contact us. |
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| What time of year is best to hold collections? Collections for QHA can be held at any time of year. However, our main expenditure occurs between September and January, when we are working on our Open Christmas project. This is also the best time to donate goods. The run up the Christmas can be a good time of year to collect because Christmas is traditionally a time when people wish to support those less fortunate than themselves. |
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| Where can I send donations? Donations Can be sent to the Income Administrator. |
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| Is QHA involved with Asylum Seekers? QHA does not currently have any projects directly targeted at asylum seekers. However, in the course of our work both with the Mobile Library and Open Christmas we are prepared to offer advice and support to any asylum seekers who access our services. |
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| Does QHA have any links with The Big Issue? Not directly. |
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| Does QHA work with other organisations? Absolutely. In the past two years we have carried out joint projects with the Whitechapel Mission and the Simon Community, as well as working alongside Crisis at Christmas in a mutually supportive relationship during the week of our Open Christmas project. Indirectly we have supported the work of other organisations through funding, either directly, or via Meetings around the country. We are currently liaising closely with members of Unleash and drawing on the expertise of organisations working in various areas of the homelessness field in order to improve and develop our Open Christmas and other operations. We are also working with QSA to develop a Befriending Project. |
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| What expertise does QHA have? The expertise of QHA lies chiefly in the skills and experience of individual members, supporters, volunteers and trustees who have had many years of experience working in the homelessness field in a voluntary capacity, through the Open Christmas, Mobile Library and Tea Run projects. We can draw on the knowledge of individuals among us with professional experience in the field, as well as liaising with other organisations offering expertise in other areas. |
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| What is the organisational structure of QHA? See Structure of QHA. |
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| Does QHA operate it’s own premises? No. QHA does not currently have any full time employees and so does not require it’s own office. We liaise with other organisations for office space and space to run our projects as required. |
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| Does QHA do any work outside of London? QHA does not currently run any projects outside of London, but we do fund projects around the country. See What We Do for more details. We hope that we will be able to expand our forthcoming Befriending Project to take in other areas of the country, and long term we may do the same with our Open Christmas and Mobile Library operations. |
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| How can I get involved with QHA? If you would be interested in getting involved in any way please contact us for more information. |
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| Is there anything that children can do to help QHA? Of course. Children can often act as successful fundraisers, and can help to raise awareness of homeless issues within their community. They can also undertake practical tasks such as putting together useful bags of toiletries, for our Open Christmas Project, or making bookmarks for our Mobile Library Project. Please contact us for information. |
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| Does QHA support those people marginalised by other agencies, and does it have the resources to cope with this? QHA has traditionally existed to support those who have not been accepted by other agencies, often due to challenging behaviour or complex problems. Happily, agencies and support services have now developed to provide support for many who have been marginalised in the past. However, the homeless demographic is constantly changing and we endeavour to keep abreast of this situation and keep an eye out for those who may experience problems accessing mainstream services. We try to develop our resources in line with developing situations through research and liaison, drawing on outside expertise and support where needed. |
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| Is QHA involved in Housing Justice? QHA is currently Liaising with Housing Justice UNLEASH - a memebership forum and network for churches, agencies and individuals concerned with housing and homelessness in London. You can access their website via our Links page. |
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| How does QHA differ from other Quaker organisations such as QSA? QHA is specifically concerned with the issue of homelessness. It is distinct from Quaker Social Action (QSA), Quaker Housing Trust, Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs(QAAD) although we are currently liaising closely with QSA. All of these organisations have websites explaining what they do, which you can access via our Links page. |
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