Hackney welcomes contactless donation sites to help the homeless
Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, joined by Cllr Rebecca Rennison and Cllr Caroline Selman, unveiled the first in a series of contactless donation points being rolled out across the borough this month, to help charities combat homelessness.
The points take a donation of £3 from contactless cards, with 100% of the donations split equally between the 22 charities within the London Homeless Charities Group. The money is spent on providing essential services across London, helping rough sleepers to cope with the day-to-day but also to forge a path away from life on the streets.
The terminals are run by TAP London, a non-profit organization which was founded in Hackney in 2017 and is supported by the Mayor of London. Thanks to a request from the Council, they are now being rolled out across the borough.
The first terminals have now been installed, located at Hackney Town Hall, Hackney Service Centre and at Climpsons on Broadway Market, with more sites set to launch soon.
In an age where people don’t carry change, but still want to help make a change, these donation points are crucial so everyone can do their bit to help tackle homelessness. The Council is doing all it can to help, but ultimately we need the government to make changes nationally that address the root causes of homelessness. In the meantime I personally wanted to support TAP and urge everyone in Hackney to support the important work of these charities.
Polly Gilbert, Co-founder of TAP London, said: “Since launching our winter campaign, we’ve raised over £34,000 from over eleven-thousand generous Londoners. We believe that communities can play a key role in improving the lives of our most vulnerable; with a simple ‘TAP’ you can support the wonderful local services that already exist here in London.”
Find your local TAP via the online map: www.taplondon.org. If you are a business in Hackney that would like to host a TAP site then please email: info@taplondon.org.