This year, the charity is seeing more people than ever needing emergency assistance at the Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre in Edinburgh, and needs to urgently raise crucial funds to provide support.

For this week only, donations towards the charity’s Buy a Bed campaign will be generously doubled by The Mackie Foundation and The Together Project, meaning each donation can support twice as many people who are homeless.

Every £21 Buy a Bed donation helps someone facing a night on the streets, providing the opportunity to come in from the cold and access a warm and safe en-suite bedroom, hot meals and 24-hour support.

With a focus on personalised care and support, the Welcome Centre aims to not only provide shelter from the elements, but also helps people move on into more permanent accommodation as well as offer assistance with mental health, addiction, wellbeing, medical needs and accessing benefits.

This winter the City of Edinburgh Council is covering the cost of the room hire. Bethany is providing a large professional team to support people in crisis and is raising essential funds through the Buy a Bed campaign to enable this service.

The Welcome Centre also relies on around 1,000 volunteers from churches across the Lothians who provide the catering and hot evening meals. The support provision at the Welcome Centre is also supported by the voluntary donations of trusts and foundations, individuals, local churches, companies and communities, as well as local and national government grants.

Last year the charity took part in the Christmas Challenge for the first time and was amazed at the response from supporters, raising their target of £20,000 in under four hours. This year, with circumstances becoming increasingly difficult for many of the people they serve, the target for the week has increased to £40,000.

Commenting on the Christmas Challenge and Buy a Bed, Alasdair Bennett, chief executive at Bethany Christian Trust, said: “Your donation will provide our team with the means to help those most in need find a warm and loving place to stay this Christmas and support to move on to further accommodation. Your gift will save lives. We have just one week to double this giving opportunity through generous match funding and raise the support needed to provide this life saving service.”

How can you get involved?

● Get online and donate to Bethany Christian Trust’s campaign between 30th November at 12pm – 7th December 12pm to double the impact.