Back in December 2015 we launched our Peer Soup pilot project – a project designed to give young homeless people (aged between 18-25) in the New Forest area somewhere to go and get free hot food and advice, support, and guidance with their housing issues.

The project ran until April 2016 and was a great success. We were able to help 73 young people over all, with 38 of those visiting us on a weekly basis throughout the project.

The majority of the young people we work with in this age range have high level needs, however, providing them with regular hot food, warmth and daily shelter over the winter has demonstrated we genuinely care about their welfare and the trust this gained enabled us to do some really meaningful work with them.

It’s Your Choice would like to thank everyone who supported the project, especially the MJB Charitable Trust, Exxon Mobil, and the Hall & Woodhouse Community Chest who funded the Peer Soup Project and Trinity Church Totton for allowing us to use their kitchen facilities.

We would also like to thank Sainsbury’s in Lordshill, Tesco in Dibden, and The Co-op in Totton who provided food donations.

We’ll now spend some time looking at what we’ve learned from the project and hope to launch another Peer Soup project in the future.