Annual Report 2020/21

Our Mission

Embrace exists to come alongside and support women who are working in street sex work, struggling with life controlling issues and who are disadvantaged by circumstances. We seek to hear, respect, pray, empower and fight for a better future.

Standing for Justice, Fighting for Freedom

Our aim is to walk with those we support in the same way that Jesus walks with us, demonstrating the consistent, unchanging Love and Hope that we ourselves have found in Him.

Volunteers

The vast majority of our work is facilitated by volunteers. Our volunteers have had to adapt hugely, trying new things out, such as walking outreach and static outreach and putting themselves on the frontline when most of us wanted to stay at home. We have also had a lot of volunteer support for visits during the day, which are so valuable for relationships building.

Lastly, our fundraising team is volunteer-led, and has done an amazing job this year on raising awareness and funds. Thank you to all our volunteers!

The past year: April 2020 to current

Emily Eglington was our project manager until July 2020, but very graciously continued to help us out through the summer until our new project manager was able to start. We are really grateful for all the love and support she showed to the women and all she contributed to Embrace.

We are also really grateful to Rachel de Kam and Tracy Richards, who served as Trustees until last year.

In our update last year, we let you know that we were postponing our on-street outreach during the first lockdown. This was in line with the other agencies we work with, and reflective of the emergency housing initiative which saw most of the women we work off the streets in the interim.

Following a summer spent reviewing the situation, it became clear in September that there was an increased need for outreach and that the restrictions were not going to lift any time soon. After some trial runs and risk assessments, we started a weekly one-hour walking outreach with a team of four. This has been so much more successful than we expected, and we have found that walking the streets increases our connection and empathy with the women and has led to some beautiful interactions.

Outreach has continued through the subsequent lockdowns, continuing to be a valuable way to connect with the women right where they are, providing practical resources, friendship and prayer, as well as the opportunity to meet up later in the week.

Our usual Christmas appeal was a huge success; we were able to give out around 40 bags of presents, toiletries and clothing, taking many of them around to the women’s accommodation in person. It was a privilege to be able to give the women such special gifts, to remind them of their worth and value. We also partnered with Kairos, helping with a Christmas drop in, where women could come and have a hot drink, chat and pick up a Christmas gift.

In May, we began re-introduced a second weekly outreach in partnership with the Hope centre and Turnaround in Hillfields. Hope centre provides a static drop-in for the women: a safe place for the women to go to have a hot drink, a chat and further support. This is being well received and relationships are growing with both the women and partner agencies in the area. 

Our weekly floating support through our Project Manager and volunteers has grown and we are now seeing a number of women regularly during the week; this includes visiting and befriending, taking them along to appointments, providing food and clothing and supporting them to connect with other agencies in the city. We are also helping out Kairos' team at one of their weekly support groups for the women.

Fundraising

Our amazing fundraising team put together a fun and accessible fundraiser called March in March. The goal was to walk, run and cycle 2021 miles during the month of March. We smashed both the distance and the fundraising target, receiving £1746 in donations. Thank you to all of our supporters.

We have also just completed out Embrace Handmade Craft Auction, which you can find out more about in our June newsletter. This has been a huge success, due to the generosity of our supporters in donating items for the auction, as well as purchasing them. We have raised around £1000 through this initiative. Thank you to the fundraising team for once again pouring in so much time, energy and love.

 Finances

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Kevin Randall our treasurer, who has been doing an amazing job over the past year in taking care of our finances.

We would like to thank the organisations and trust funds which have supported us financially or with gifts this year. These include:

Christian Welfare Association

Souter Trust

The National Lottery

Heart of England Foundation

Creflo Dollar Ministries

Morrisons