Our Homes for Veterans service provides veterans with stable accommodation in a community setting with vital support that is bespoke to the needs of the individual. We work with homeless veterans across North and South Wales and throughout the South and Southwest of England. We have developed an Alabaré Veterans Pathway which provides a range of projects designed to support training, education, and employment, alongside increased physical and mental wellbeing.
Our experience is that most of our homeless beneficiaries find difficulty in adjusting to civilian life after living in something of an 'institution' and a 'dependency culture'. The nature of Alabaré's 'homes not hostels' creates small-scale domestic provision, ensuring a homely environment and stopping further institutionalisation of our veterans. At the time of writing, we run 16 homes for veterans with a total of 88 bed spaces. 7 are in Wales with 37 bedspaces throughout north and south Wales.
Boots of the Ground Scheme
Boots on the Ground, part of the Veterans Pathway, provides a beneficiary-focussed approach to improving poor mental and physical health, it is a set of activities created to follow a comprehensive understanding of the holistic needs of the veteran. The activities are based outdoors, understanding the proven positive impact exposure to nature has on mental health. We concentrate on getting involved with mainly environmental and heritage-based programmes.
Alabaré package these opportunities into a group setting to encourage engagement and teamwork and build friendships and social connections whilst enabling the veteran self-reflection, physical exercise and re-engagement with their skills. Current activities include hill walking, forestry, bushcraft, foraging, sailing, horticulture, metal detecting, blacksmithing, fishing, community gardening projects and attending Veterans’ Breakfast Clubs.
In the last financial year 79 individuals took part in the activities around Wales and the Southwest.
The Need
We find ourselves challenged with transport issues and are continually using large proportions of budget to get our veterans to where they need to be to take part in these meaningful activities. Colleagues are using their own cars or hiring taxi’s. This can sometimes restrict the number of individuals we can support with our Boots on the Ground services and we don't want to do that. If a veteran engages after weeks of being withdrawn we want to take him to the activity.
The Ask
We are looking for funding to lease a minibus for two years, the approximate cost is £500 per month + vat. We would like funding for 2 years.
The Benefits
The benefits to our homeless veterans are far reaching, a high level of anxiety is often registered when veterans first come to us, it is reduced by taking part in these activities. The veterans record that they begin to feel valued as a team member, their sense of worth increases and this in turn improves prospects of employability. It's a win -win, with these guys contributing to society once again in a positive way and hopefully taking on their own tenancy successfully and leaving the streets behind for good.