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Tuesday 15 Nov 2022

Electronic donation point at Bristol Temple Meads raises £4,000 for city charities

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Passengers at Bristol Temple Meads have donated over £4,000 to TAP for Bristol, an initiative tackling homelessness in the city, by using an electronic donation point installed at the station.

The donation point, which was installed in 2020, is located opposite the phone booths at the main station entrance and allows people to tap their contactless bank card or mobile device to donate £3, with all donations divided equally between Caring in Bristol – a local non-profit focused on homelessness prevention – and other organisations working with those who experience homelessness, such as Second Step and St Mungo’s.

The TAP for Bristol campaign, led by Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID) in partnership with Caring in Bristol and Redcliffe and Temple BID, has seen electronic donation points pop up all over the city, collectively raising over £70,000 since 2019. The donations have so far been used to support Caring in Bristol’s homelessness prevention work, with £35,000 helping those who have struggled with rent and bill payments during the pandemic.

The TAP donation point at Bristol Temple Meads has done particularly well, passing the £4,000 milestone in recent weeks. Paula Ratcliffe from Bristol City Centre BID and project lead for TAP for Bristol visited the station last month to present the Network Rail station management team with a certificate recognising the achievement.

A further £35,000 worth of grants have been provided to a range of charities for emergency homelessness support, with the most recent recipients being 1625 Independent People and One25. These charities support young people presenting as homeless or affected by energy poverty as well as women facing multiple disadvantages, supporting them to move from crisis to independence, respectively.  

Bernadette Sachse, Network Rail’s station manager for Bristol Temple Meads, said: “We’re so happy that the TAP for Bristol donation point is having such an impact with our passengers.

“As a company, we’re supporting the rail industry’s ‘Routes out of Homelessness’ campaign, which offers support to the charities that work so hard to provide vulnerable people with a brighter future. Knowing that all the donations are being used for this purpose within Bristol is fantastic and we’d like to thank Bristol City Centre BID, Caring in Bristol and our passengers for everything they’re doing to support such a worthwhile cause.

“We hope that people will keep donating when they’re able to and we’ll continue to work with Paula and the team at Bristol City Centre BID to raise funds and awareness of the great work being done thanks to this initiative.”

Paula Ratcliffe, Bristol City Centre BID’s project lead for TAP for Bristol said: “We are very grateful to Network Rail for hosting a TAP donation point and helping to raise these vital funds. The generosity of staff and passengers at Bristol Temple Meads shows a commitment to tackling the issues that are faced by so many in our city and helping to solve homelessness in Bristol.

“We hope to increase the number of donation points across the city and are looking forward to working with more charities, supporting more individuals to live a life without homelessness.”