Hope for the New Year

I hope that the festive season went well for you all, regardless of lockdown or Covid related restrictions.

What a year 2020 was for us all. Many disruptions and upsets as the Covid pandemic adjusted life for us all to some degree.

The closure of our charity shops during late Spring/​early Summer, during the first lockdown put us under a lot of financial pressure to find the resources needed support our humanitarian projects across the world. By God’s grace we were able to meet our commitments during that time due to the generosity of our friends and partners across the world. 

Closer to Christmas we had to close our shops for 2 weeks, stopping our income stream, and we are currently into week 3 of a 6 week lockdown. We are grateful that our staff qualify for the government furlough scheme, but again the income for our 100+ humanitarian projects, in 28 nations has been severed. 

4 New Outlet Stores

Due to the high volume of donated goods received by the shops during Autumn we were able to open 4, newly branded, £1 Drop Inn Outlet Stores: Aughnacloy, Dungannon, Portadown and Ballymoney.

These stores were set up with a dual purpose:

1. To provide discounted quality used clothing to communities… with all adult clothing item being sold at £1. We understand that many have lost their jobs and many are on lower income furlough. It is our way of helping locally by demonstrating that charity begins at home.
2. With so many generous donations after the first lockdown we needed an outlet in which we could sell clothes items quickly.

Project visits cancelled

Our annual mission trips were also cancelled due to Covid. We had plans to bring teams to Zambia (to visit our school project), Colombia (working with Venezuelan refugees), Burkina Faso (school programs, Summer camp), India (to visit various partners), Jordan (Syrian & Iraqi refugees) and Latvia (Summer camp & shoebox delivery). We hope to open our trips again as soon as there is a significant change in the pandemic. Notification via our social media outlets will inform you of future trips. 

Many who receive the benefits of our global giving have expressed how hard life has been for them as they are not able to work. Many 3^rd world economies have been devastated by Covid, so much more pressure is on us as a charity to source the provision. Again, with our 28 charity shops closed we are, at this time 100% dependant on the generosity of those who support our ministry.

Shoebox Appeal

Our annual Shoebox appeal looked a bit different this year. Physical shoeboxes couldn’t be sent so or partners Team Hope moved the appeal online. Donations were made online and the money was used by partners in country to make shoeboxes to give to the children in their community. 42,324 shoeboxes were donated which is amazing after such a challenging year!

A big thank you to everyone who took part.

Child Sponsorship

We also take this opportunity to let you know that we have many needy children around the world who need sponsorship.

For just £10 ($13) per month, ALL of your donation will go towards the feeding and education of a child in a country like, Burkina Faso, India, Haiti or Colombia. This program ensures, regardless of lockdowns that these little ones are provided for.

On behalf of Drop Inn, I want to thank you for all of your help and support during 2020 and hope that 2021 will be a much better year for us all.

Regular giving

We also present the opportunity for our supporters to give on a regular basis. If you are a U.K. taxpayer your donation qualifies for Gift Aid. This will enable us to claim 25% from the government and add it to your donation. All you need to do is mark the gift aid box and enter your address.

No amount is too small! Most nations that we work into can provide a hot meal for a child for 25 pence (35c), meaning that a £10 ($13) per month donation would provide 40 hot meals.

Please consider partnering with us and becoming a regular donor.

Yours thankfully

Nigel Burrows
Fundraising Director
Drop Inn Ministries