Keep it Unreal for Reach Out To The Community!

Listen to the gig here.

On Saturday 17th October 2020, DJs Mr. Scruff, Annabel Fraser, Lee Andrews & MC Kwasi played an all day livestream from Manchester’s Escape to Freight Island venue. 

You can listen to it here on Mixcloud. 

This is an online fundraising event for our Reach out to the Community Charity. We support people experiencing homelessness and poverty in South Manchester. 

We aim to Raise £1000

The event - About the DJs 

Mr. Scruff & MC Kwasi are the resident/host duo at Keep It Unreal, tirelessly feeding hungry ears with the widest musical menu imaginable. Connecting the dots with a massive crayon & a big smile!

Annabel Fraser is a well seasoned DJ with years of experience. Her wide-ranging mixes traverse genres as diverse as ‘80s new wave, classic house and disco, through to post-punk and martial industrial. Check out her regular shows on NTS.

Emerging from Manchester’s mid-90’s Hip Hop/Electronic scene, Lee Andrews is one half of Manchester’s notorious Chips with Everything crew. He has released several records, including his LA77 Project.

Why we need the money!

As a charity that doesn’t  receive commissioning from government bodies, we rely heavily on donations and sales in our charity shop to keep us going.

The past few months have been hard for Reach Out. Fundraisers have had to be cancelled and we had to shut our shop during lockdown which meant much less money was coming in, however our support has been needed more than ever.

Your donations will help us carry on doing what we do best, supporting those experiencing homelessness and food poverty in Manchester. 

Your donations will help us continue our COVID-19 food response, providing 3 meals a day for individuals housed temporary in hotels and food parcels to those being supported within the community. 

On top of this, your money will help us continue to care for people on the streets through outreach and within accommodation through our support work and partnerships with other organisations

About our Charity

Our shop – at 488 Wilbraham Road in Chorlton – is a hive of  activity.

At the front you’ll find our charity shop, where we sell good-quality donations of all sorts – clothing, household goods, games, books, toys, DVDs. Every penny we take is used to support the charity and its work. 

Meanwhile, at the back of the shop, we’re just as busy. On any given day we’ll be:

Sorting donations: some we’ll sell some in our shop. Many donations we receive are given directly to people in need.  Find out more about direct donations here.

Making up food parcels: we run a food bank, which gives non-perishable food, toiletries and other items to individuals and families referred to us by other organisations. Print or save our handy shopping list.

Responding to client needs: if someone is in need, we’ll give food, a hot drink or warm dry, clothing.  We also make appointments, help sort out personal admin (such as registering with a doctor), give advice, make referrals to other agencies, help with benefits or housing applications, or cover travel costs.  If someone doesn’t read or write, we’ll read paperwork for them or help with forms; if someone doesn’t have access to a computer (and who on the street does??), they can use ours – on their own, or we’ll work together. Did you know that if you need to apply for the basic benefits, like Universal Credit, you can only do it online? 

Planning: we’re always hatching a cunning plan, whether forging a new strategic partnership, an idea for a fundraiser, some much-needed PR, a local campaign or simply what we’re going to do next. The size of our task is so enormous, there’s always something being done to take things to the next level. 

Listening: life can be lonely if you find yourself on the fringes of society. Sometimes people only want your time – a smile, a chat a bit of companionship. We have those things in our shop – and they’re free. 

As the name suggests, we reach out.  We go out onto the streets and make contact. The key is listening and learning to what people need, rather than just making assumptions. And sometimes, a small thing can make a big difference. 

We are part of the Street Support Network, the Coalition of Relief (COR), Manchester Homelessness Partnership and Big Change Manchester. We connect people experiencing homelessness with organisations, voluntary groups, businesses and others working together to offer real help.