Manna Day Centre for the homeless & those in need

Aim

To provide food, showers, clothing, housing advice, medical care & access to the internet to 120 homeless & vulnerably housed people daily.

The Manna Society is a registered charity founded in 1982 to help homeless and vulnerably housed people. We run a day centre (the Manna Centre) which is open seven days a week, 51 weeks of the year, offering a wide range of practical help and advice to some of the most disadvantaged people in our society. We are based at London Bridge, and we provide both a compassionate and practical response to the problems faced by London’s poor and homeless. 

We ensure that all of our service-users receive a hot nutritious meal and have access to washing facilities, health care, clothing, housing & welfare advice and to the internet. On an average day we see about 120 people. All of our services are free to our service users. 

We offer a place of warmth and security where all of our service-users can access all of the services mentioned above. For some it will be the only hot meal they will have in the day. The showers & washing facilities perk people up after a night on the street, hopefully encouraging them to persevere. A change of clothing (especially clean underwear & socks which every user of our clothing store receives automatically) also helps people feel better about themselves. The medical personnel (Nurse Practitioners, Mental Health Workers & Podiatrist) help address any medical issues our service-users are facing. 

Our Advice Service help in a number of ways. They are often the first step in helping people move from living on the street and into accommodation. This often involves helping the client obtain the necessary identification and benefits needed to access accommodation. For those in accommodation help is given to ensure that they maintain their tenancies i.e. help to ensure that they are in receipt of Housing Benefit and that they receive all of the benefits they are entitled to. We also help with debt management (rent arrears, energy arrears etc). 

Over half (52%) of our service users are rough sleepers, 14% are in hostel accommodation, 12% in privately rented accommodation, 11% staying with friends, 9% in secure socially rented accommodation and the remaining 2% in ‘other’ accommodation – August 2025 statistics. All of our service users are low-income individuals. Most are in receipt of Social Security benefits, but some have no income whatsoever.  

It costs approximately £580,000 per year to provide our services. The only two sources of assured funding we have at the beginning of each financial year is £61,604 from the London Borough of Southwark (our local authority) and £60,000 from regular standing orders (individual donors). The remaining 80% has to be raised. 

All funds raised will go towards providing the avbove services.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made