We are open to accept donations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 1000 and 1500.

Our response to the situation in Afghanistan:

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us wishing to donate items or money specifically to help people arriving from Afghanistan. We are heartened by the outpouring of compassion for our new friends. St Chad’s Sanctuary has worked with people fleeing war, persecution, violence and life-threatening situations for over 11 years and we are committed to continuing to do so. We count many Afghans among our friends and service users and we expect to welcome more.

As a charity we rely on financial and practical donations to meet this ever increasing need. We understand that people have been motivated to donate to us because they have seen the situation in Afghanistan. Most of our service users tell of similar experiences leading to their desperate need to leave their homeland. We do feel that it is important to make clear therefore that we do not currently have any service or pot of money which is limited for use by one nationality to the exclusion of another. All asylum seekers and refugees are welcome in equal measure, regardless of their country of origin and any items or money donated to St Chad’s Sanctuary will be used for the benefit of all our service users. We cannot therefore promise that any particular item or money will be given to a person from Afghanistan.

We hope that this clarity will reassure you that each person we welcome is received with equal care and compassion and that your donations are utilised thoughtfully and with respect. With the rest of the asylum sector we are keeping an eye on the unfolding picture and when the government share their plans with us we will let you know if there is anything our supporters can do. 

 CHANGES TO OUR DONATIONS POLICY DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC

We have an important change of policy in light of the pandemic. We are sure you will understand that an outbreak of Corona Virus at the Sanctuary could have a devastating impact on the people we serve therefore we ask you to respect these rules and not to think of us as rude or ungrateful for your generosity. Please adhere to the rules to protect our staff, volunteers, friends and yourself.

• We can no longer accept donations at our front door. We ask that all donations are delivered to our backdoor (see details below). This is to better enable social distancing.
• You can no longer enter the building. Even if you have been coming into the Sanctuary for years, I am sad to say that you can not come into the building for the foreseeable future. All staff and volunteers must remain 2 metres away from you at all times.
• Please ring ahead to check that we can accept your donations.
• We cannot accept electrical items, please do not donate them.
• We cannot mend broken or ripped items or clothing, or remove stains that have refused to come out for you. Please do not donate them
• We have very few people working in the building at this time. Please help us to process your donations quickly by organising them into sizes, genders, types of clothing, if possible.
• Please be patient with us when we take a long time to answer the phone or to come to collect your donations.

Our backdoor is located on William Booth Lane, B4 6HJ. The postcode takes you down a dead end street which ends in a building site. Our back yard is the last one before the building site with the green gates. When you arrive please ring our main phone number 0121 233 3127 to let us know you are here. We would be grateful if you would then unload your items and leave them next to (but not blocking) the back door. When you have finished and have returned to your vehicle our staff will come out and take the donations into the building. If you are physically unable to unload the vehicle please inform us of this on the phone, open the relevant doors on the vehicle and we will empty it for you.

We do hope that this does not cause too much difficulty for you and have included some photos to assist in finding the backdoor.

We use all donated goods to benefit the asylum seekers and refugees we support. Occasionally, if we have items which are unsuitable for distribution at the Sanctuary, we either offer them to charities supporting other vulnerable groups, or sell them to raise valuable funds for our work.

We currently are unable to collect any donations. We are sorry for this but we simply do not have staff or volunteer capacity. 

We really need donations of food and toiletries, specifically:

• food -  empty, clean 500ml water bottles,tinned vegetables, tinned tomatoes, salt, pasta, baked beans
• toiletries - shampoo and shower gel

We cannot currently accept anything other than what is on the following list; we thank you for your understanding.

We are able to accept certain clothing donations, specifically:

• Men's jeans and shorts, especially waist size 32 and 34
• Men's t-shirts
• Men's flip flops
• Children's school bags
• Children's school shoes (black)

PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT ACCEPT DONATIONS WHEN WE ARE CLOSED. PLEASE DO NOT THROW THEM OVER THE BACK GATE.

(Updated) 24/09/2021