Where the Money Goes
All of the proceeds from Caring Christmas Trees goes directly towards the work of Bethany Christian Trust, helping to fund our vital, lifesaving work throughout the winter and beyond.
Founded in 1983 as a grassroots charity in Leith, Bethany Christian Trust now supports over 7,000 people across Scotland by helping them to understand and overcome the root causes and direct effects of homelessness.
Our services focus on Homelessness Prevention, Crisis Intervention, and Housing and Support; alleviating the suffering and meeting the long term needs of people facing homelessness, or the risk of homelessness.​
Homelessness Prevention
Social isolation, poor mental health, unemployment, and family breakdowns are just a few of the reasons people find themselves homeless. We have community development workers throughout Scotland who run drop-ins, craft workshops, recovery programmes and more in order to help people build up networks of support and address any underlying issues that could lead to homelessness.
Crisis Intervention
We provide a number of safe and welcoming supported accommodation for people in times of crisis and with immediate needs. Once men and women are accessing these services, our teams develop relationships with them and provide holistic and tailored support, enabling long-lasting impact.
We also run Care Vans, which offer food and drinks, and a friendly face to people who find themselves sleeping rough in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Perth.
Housing and Support
We provide focused, one-to-one support to people who find themselves transitioning from temporary and short-term accommodation to permanent accommodation. Through friendship and mentorship, our teams throughout Scotland help tenants to maintain their tenancies as well as provide guidance on employment and financial management.
​
In addition to our Housing and Support provisions, we run a service called Gateway which provides low-income households with furniture and basic home goods as they take up a new tenancy with the City of Edinburgh Council.
This is just a snapshot of the immense work carried out by Bethany Christian Trust. To find out more, please visit our website.
​
A special note about the Rapid Re-Accommodation Welcome Centre:
​
In previous years, the funds raised by Caring Christmas Trees directly supported our emergency overnight accommodation. Given the scale of the Rapid Re-Accommodation project, we seek a wide range of financial support for this service, including our Buy a Bed campaign. All proceeds raised through Caring Christmas Trees now go directly to our other work during the winter, as detailed above.
The Rapid Re-Accommodation Welcome Centre is based in an Edinburgh hotel for anyone who would otherwise be sleeping rough. Guests receive in-house support from our visiting partners to help them access suitable accommodation quickly and find more long-term solutions.