Helping the homeless: how our donation will support Mustard Tree
20 Aug 2015
Will Spinks visited Mustard Tree's premises in Ancoats this week to hear how the charity will use the donation of £2,359 which our staff raised by completing the Staff Survey
Mustard Tree was established as a charity in 1994 by Dave and Shona Smith who started by taking food and drink onto the streets and spending time listening to those sleeping rough.
Twenty-one years on, Mustard Tree has grown into a substantial organisation, helping to create choice and opportunity for people who are homeless and marginalised from their large warehouse facility in Ancoats, and a retail outlet in Eccles Precinct and Little Hulton.
The charity works annually with approximately 4,000 registered clients, most of whom are referred from statutory agencies such as Manchester City Council teams, the Probation Service, the NHS and housing associations.
When Will Spinks arrived to visit Mustard Tree this week to meet Communications Manager Soraya Sheikh-Ambrose, a lively induction session was under way on the first floor of the building for participants embarking on the latest employment and life skills programme; The Freedom Project.
The charity aims to provide a structured introduction to work for people who may never have worked, taking them through the job application and interview process, in order to give them the experience and confidence to apply for jobs – and ultimately bring stability to their lives. Those who are drug and alcohol users may not be ready immediately for this path and have the opportunity to embark on the life skills pathway.
Proof of the programmes’ success is that 37 clients gained employment between April 2014 and March 2015, while another 83 accessed further volunteering, training and education opportunities.
Graham Hudson, Mustard Tree’s Creative Programmes Manager and resident artist (shown in the photo above), illustrates how Mustard Tree can help to turn a person’s life around and the help that the charity offers. Living in a hostel after serving several prison sentences, he was initially reluctant to engage with Mustard Tree but soon realised that they could offer him the help he needed. Over the last six years, Graham instigated the creation of the Creative Arts Department and has been integral to its development.
The department supports participants in acquiring skills which are not only creative but also therapeutic: art, drama, music and film making (the charity is involved with the Homeless Film Festival) are among the options available.
Other facilities include a gym where participants can work out, space for tai chi and short tennis (plus martial arts in the future), and a garden.
Mustard Tree is soon to undergo major refurbishment, which will open up the existing building to produce large, open plan working spaces. Crucially, the works will transform the way they support their clients; helping them to respond to the growing increase in demand, increasing the capacity of their facilities, the quality of their services and providing thousands of people with their best chance of a better life.
Mustard Tree is funded from three sources: one-third from its charity shops, one-third from regular donations and one-third from grants (including Comic Relief). There are 22 members of staff, who are augmented by around 125 Freedom Project participants and volunteers. However, day to day running is a challenge.
Soraya explained “Not every member of staff has a participant-facing role, but they might have to drop everything to attend to a participant who may have recently relapsed or needs to work through something difficult. To have extra support in the day to day running of Mustard Tree is always very welcome.”
Will said “The University chose smaller, local charities to benefit from our staff Survey donations this time around, because we can make more difference that way.
“We’ll be exploring other ways in which we can continue to support Mustard Tree as part of our Social Responsibility agenda.”
Further information
You can find out more about Mustard Tree – including how it got its name – at: