Ar Rilha, Arabic for “the journey”, started in Oct 2020 to support the homeless community in London. After founder Stefan Jones' mother died due to drug addiction and homelessness, he and his team set out to support those in need. In the first year, we realised the situation many Londoners are faced with, from the working poor to drug addiction. We then decided to registered as a Community interest company (not for profit) in December 2021.
We now provide consistent food support to the vulnerable in our community (homeless, working poor, disabled, single parents etc).
In the year and a half, we have seen such a huge difference in many of our service users from their mental state to actually coming off the streets into housing and funding steady work. Many of our ex service users now volunteer for us, this means a great deal to our organisation to see our work through our own volunteers is very humbling and also drives u to keep pushing to greater levels.
We now provide hot meals and essential supplies to 300+ people each week via our two soup kitchens that act as Portable hubs. These hubs have allowed us to become true pillars in the communities we work, supporting those in need in multiple ways including food, clothing, hygiene, mental health and much more. Not only that, but we also provide a virtual food bank, providing a variety of item from household items to fruit and veg, this is a huge help to many vulnerable families and working poor we support.
Our Homeless outreach has always been at the heart of our work, running 3 days per week to meet the need of those sleeping rough on the street in the Croydon community. We provide Hot food and drink, clothing, sleeping bags, hygiene essentials etc
To promote real social change and community development, we understand it will take more than just food aid, hence why we started AR community support. Where we focus mainly on building strong foundations. No community can become great without a solid foundation, this is why we provide our service users with community projects such as workshops, mentoring, and other services such as GCSE revision classes that aid our users in their development.
Our team consists of three key members, and a great number of volunteers, some have previously experienced homelessness and other issues we tackle. This is one of our greatest qualities, allowing us to have a deeper insight into our service user's needs, allowing us to tailor our support accordingly. All the services we provide are crucial in the development of a sustainable community, but we believe it starts from the inside, this is why we instil a sense of hope in our community, showing solidarity and hope that things can and will get better, we will stand beside with our community on their journey to a brighter future.
AR also provides vital international aid to Third World countries via its water project. Working in 5 counties providing boreholes to the neediest. This acts as a catalyst to support a better quality of life, providing a multitude of benefits including, safe drinking, hygiene, food production and allowing children to attend school.
