We had a lovely person who came to The Art House to use our Pantry for the first time last Thursday – they’d just arrived in the city from the West Country.

They split up with their family some time ago and are homeless.

We gave them paid-forward soup (and soft bread because most of their teeth were gone.) They were so happy to find somewhere safe and friendly to get warm for an hour or so. We are able to do this because of our one-off pay-it-forward pepes that cover our costs but especially because of our Patrons on Patreon who donate regular amounts to make sure the lights stay on.

But we have a problem. We may have to stop opening on Thursdays very soon as we just can’t afford to – rising costs of energy, staffing costs and lower city centre footfall make it difficult to fund the three daytimes and one evening we currently do if we rely solely of donations from pantry users (many of whom are struggling financially and don’t have much to spare) and folks dropping in for coffee.

So, if you are able to, would you consider becoming one of our Patrons, donating a regular amount each month to help us keep our doors open longer for people like the one above, who need us? You won’t see a more transparent and obvious use of your hard-earned cash being put to good use.

Find out more and join our Patreon community here

If you can’t afford to commit to a monthly amount, we understand – money is tight for a lot of people at the moment. Here are some other ways you can help:

Share this post on your social media – this increases our reach and lets new people know about what we do.

We need volunteers for the cafe and pantry on Wednesday daytimes and evenings, Thursday daytimes and Saturday daytimes – let us know you are interested and what days/times you can do here:

We also have other ways to donate and non-cash donations we need regularly.

Thanks for reading!