Stagecoach West has partnered with Gloucester Nightstop, providing free bus travel to users of the emergency accommodation charity as it celebrates its 20th birthday.
The charity arranges overnight stays for 16-25-year-olds with partaking local people in Gloucestershire and the involvement with the bus operator means they will be able to travel to their accommodation easily and safely.
Jacob Bradfield, board member of Gloucestershire Nightstop, says: “When somebody becomes homeless, it’s hard to keep the other aspects of their life above water. The lack of a stable base has devastating impacts on people’s relationships, jobs, education, finances, health and wellbeing.
“The ability to travel makes homeless young people more resilient, enabling them to keep the rest of their life afloat and limiting the long-term damage caused by homelessness. This is why this partnership is so exciting and its impact on achieving long-term success for young people cannot be overstated.”
Gloucestershire Nightstop provides short and long-term accommodation, laundry and washing facilities, training, activities, small support grants, peer befriending and advice.
Rachel Geliamassi, Managing Director, Stagecoach West, says: “We’re so pleased to be involved with this wonderful charity and do what we can to support them. Taking the worry and burden of travel out of the equation will, hopefully, go some way to helping these young people at an incredibly stressful time in their lives.”
As well as promoting Gloucestershire Nightstop’s services and helping appeal for volunteer hosts on its social media channels, Stagecoach West will advertise the charity on the back of one of its 10 service vehicles.
Jacob adds: “We’d like to thank Stagecoach for being so keen to work with us in pursuit of our mission to prevent and end youth homelessness. This partnership will help us keep our young people moving, recruit new volunteer hosts and recover from the pandemic in our 20th anniversary year. By working together, we can help young people build solid foundations for stable and successful lives.”
