Down to Earth Launch gallery added to the site!
A selection of 25 images from the event can be found here, taken by our photographer maestro Del Hemley. Click on each thumbnail for a larger version.
Down to Earth holds its launch event
On Thursday 2nd September QSA launched its latest poverty relief project at a multidisciplinary event held at St. Ethelburga's Centre in London. Down to Earth aims to support recently bereaved people on low incomes to cope with the costs of funerals, as well as campaigning for a culture of fairer funerals and pre-planning for death at times of less immediate need. The event emphasised the value of using creative, simple and poignant ceremonies to celebrate a life, rather than the costly, off-the-peg Victoriana still peddled by many in today's funeral industry. A short film by 
artist Briony Campbell and an art installation by our very own Gerry Smith were accompanied by speeches from Shaun Powell, project manager, and John Fox & Sue Gill, authors of the DeadGood Funerals Book. We were also fortunate to host a selection of cremation urn (pictured right) designed by celebrities to mark the start of the Dying Matters Awareness week, which was organised in March by the Dying Matters Coalition.
Working initially in Tower Hamlets and Hackney in partnership with St. Joseph's Hospice, Down to Earth is currently recruiting and training a network of volunteer funeral mentors. From November 2010, these community-based mentors will support bereaved people in financial difficulties to plan meaningful funerals, without getting into serious debt.
We'd love to hear from you if you are:
- An east London-based health or community practitioner interested in referring service users for support or working in partnership with Down toEarth.
- Interested in the challenging and rewarding role ofvolunteer funeral mentor.
Contact: Shaun Powell, Down to Earth project manager
shaunpowell@qsa.org.uk | 020 8983 5056 | 17 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PJ
Summer Newsletter: out now (May 20th 2010)
We have just sent our summer newsletter to all of our individual supporters and the many Quaker Meetings that have kindly made donations to us over the last three years. It includes stories on our new initiatives, the Money Connections service at Homestore and Stepping Stones, as well as an update from Down to Earth and Made of Money's partnership work. We hope you enjoy reading it - if anyone would like any more copies please let us know by emailing info@qsa.org.uk.The newsletter also includes a mention of the various, imaginative ways Friends have supported us recently, including a fundraising concert performed by the Quaker Steel Band from Sutton Meeting, pictured below.
Money matters
Last year, Homestore provided over 1,700 people with access to affordable furniture and household goods. The people who shop at Homestore face financial difficulties for a number of different reasons but many of them are stressed and unhappy about their financial situation. For this reason, our new Money Connections service, funded by the DWP, will provide resources, information and support to Homestore customers.
Future Jobs Fund
As part of their promise to provide 18-24 year olds who have been out of work for over 6 months, the DWP is funding workplaces to provide work experience placements that are fulfilling and which serve the community in some way. From March 2010, we are please to welcome James, Janifar and Saira to our offices. They'll be supporting all of our projects, giving us some much-needed help in the office and gaining some useful experience for their CVs.
Special edition of The Friend - Friday 19th March!
Homestore wins Tower Hamlets award
Last night (11th March 2010) Homestore won the Tower Hamlets Third Sector Excellence Award 2010 for 'Improving the Environment'. Our very own Irmina Joseph and volunteer Teresa accepted the award at a glitzy Gala Presentation ceremony at The Troxy on Commercial Road. The certificate and plaque were accompanied by a £500 cheque, which is given in recognition of our contribution to improving the lives and wellbeing of people in the borough. Congratulations to everyone at Homestore, and a big thank you to all of its supporters, donors and volunteers!Judith Moran joins ImpACT Coalition
Judith, our director, has recently been appointed to the steering group of the ImpACT Coalition, a membership body which seeks to promote accountability, clarity and transparency in the voluntary sector. Its 280 members include large national charities such as Oxfam, Shelter and the NSPCC, as well as sector bodies such as the Institute of Fundraising and NCVO.Homelink in Jennifer Kavanagh's new book
Described by the chair of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust as "a book that opens the heart", Jennifer Kavanagh's new book is called "The O of Home". It attempts to define what home - and the lack of one - mean to us. As part of her research, Jennifer interviewed QSA staff and users at our Homelink project. One Homelink client, asked to sum up his idea of the meaning of home, responded " Home? It's comfort, somewhere to live... Everyone should have a home. It's everything, isn't it? A home". Buy it here on amazon.co.uk.Stories and statistics
Throughout 2009, QSA worked to build a 'story bank': a resource of people's experiences of the various issues which bring them to our projects. Staff and volunteers spoke to people in a confidential space, asking them questions about homelessness, money management, employment, and community. We wanted to listen to the people with whom we work, in order to improve the work that we do and respond to the real needs that people have.
You can read some of these stories relating to Knees Up, Made of Money, Homestore and Homelink on their pages. The beautiful images which accompany these stories were taken by a volunteer in the area surrounding our Bethnal Green office.
The Story Bank has been a large piece of research for QSA and we'd like to thank all the volunteers who gave so much time and support to us.
QSA in top twenty 'recommended charities'
New Philanthropy Capital is an organisation which independently assess the impact of UK charities in order to make recommendations to funders. In 2008, their team of researchers spent around 80 hours assessing QSA and described us as "an innovative charity which answers local need".Since then, they have decided to streamline their recommendation process, picking one extremely effective charity to demonstrate each of their categories. QSA is delighted to have been picked as the best example of "a creative, flexible approach by a small charity." You can read the full report and recommendations here.
New staff for the new year
There's been a lot of change in QSA's teams recently. Joanna, our fundraising and communications officer, has become tenancy creation and support officer at Homelink. She will be replaced by Rosie, who brings lots of fundraising experience to the role.Natalie, who was tenancy sustainment officer part-time and Knees Up development worker part-time has become manager of Knees Up. She is joined by Dinar, who was previously development worker at Street Cred and has over 10 years experience of working in our local community.
Finally, our newest project will start in January and we are delighted to welcome Shaun as manager of Down to Earth. Down to Earth is an innovative idea supporting people through the difficulties of planning a funeral. You can read more about this here.
QSA contribute to debate on values
Director Judith Moran was recently asked to contribute to a report by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) on how third sector organisations relate their values to the work that they do. The report, entitled "Values into action: how organisations translate their values into practise", looked at the importance for charities of stating their beliefs and reflecting on what their values are. Quaker Social Action was chosen as a case study organisation that has spent time considering this issue. Our values are very important to us and we were pleased to take part in this thought-provoking debate. Homestore highly commended
We were delighted when Homestore were announced runner-up in the Archant 
London Environmental Awards on November 20th. Homestore were the only project named "Highly Commended" in the category of 'Best Recycling Project'. Irmina and Anna went to collect the award and enjoyed mingling with environmental projects, schools and businesses from across London.
Tea with Terry Waite
Staff, trustees, volunteers, supporters and friends of QSA gathered together on 15th October to celebrate our move to the new premises. We were very pleased to welcome Terry Waite, humanitarian, hostage negotiator and recent Quaker, who spoke movingly 
of the difficulties which face those caught in the traps of social and financial exclusion. "I commend Quaker Social Action for the integrated work that they do, which is now made more possible by being under one roof", said Terry. "You could not support a more creative and better project."We've moved!
After much moving around of boxes and plugging in of wires, we've finally settled into our new building. Made of Money, Street Cred STEP, Homelink and Knees Up are now sharing a space with our finance, fundraising, quality and engagement and communications teams. The building, which is rented from St Margaret's House Settlement, is a beautiful space and allows us to share resources and ideas more efficiently.
Our new address is
17 Old Ford Road
Bethnal Green
London E2 9PJ
and our new telephone number is 020 8983 5030.
Street Cred marks 10 years
Our Street Cred project last week celebrated 10 years of providing business support and microcredit loans to women wanting to start their own businesses. The event was a time of celebration for so many women who have been supported to find employment opportunities through Street Cred, as well as marking a new era for the project. In the next three months Street Cred will be piloting a new emphasis, focused around offering accredited training modules for the women it works with.
QSA go jogging for the Homestore challenge
QSA staff and employees have so far raised £1,057 for the Homestore project by volunteering to take part in the London peace run. There will be 7 QSA runners puffing their way to the finish line on September 26th, hoping to raise £5,000 for the Homestore 2020 challenge. To donate funds to the team click here.
Local politicians and community organisations gather to celebrate 20 years of Homestore
August 20th was a special day for our Homestore project. To celebrate 20 years of existence we held a celebration for volunteers, service-users, staff, community partners and local politicians. We started Homestore out of a belief that people should have access to good-quality furniture regardless of how much money they have. 20 years on we run a bustling warehouse with the help of over 50 volunteers who help us to reach over 1,600 households living on a low income every year. Along the way we help to divert hundreds of tonnes of furniture from landfill- last year we saved the equivalent of 15 London buses! In its 20th year Homestore is now busy in a campiagn to raise £20,000. To read about 20 years of Homestore download our celebratory booklet, or to help our 2020 campaign click here.
Homestore launches 2020 challenge- we need your help!
To celebrate 20 years of our furniture reuse project we are asking supporters to help us raise £20,000! Why not download some fundraising ideas and get involved?
QSA Summer Newsletter goes to print
QSA has been busy in the last few months. Find out the latest news about our projects and the work we do in east London by reading our Summer Newsletter.
"No progress on child poverty"
Government figures released on the 7th May reveal that Labour's initial gains on child poverty have been eroded. Their initial target was to halve child poverty by 2010 and to 'eradicate' child poverty by 2020. Sadly, inequality is higher today in Britain than at any time since the 1970s, and there are still 2.9 million children living in relative poverty before housing costs.
To read more, go to this report .
New website goes live!
As you can see, our new website has finally been finished. We are still working on parts of it and would love to hear your feedback, ideas, or stories about life in east London. If you have any photos of this exciting part of the world, we'd love to see them too. Our contact form is at the bottom of this page.Made of Money evaluation report published
Made of Money staff and visitors
