'Tap to Donate' point introduced to help homeless in Wolverhampton
A contactless donation point has been installed in Wolverhampton in a bid to raise money to help the homeless and tackle aggressive street begging.
The "tap to donate" point has been set up in Victoria Square – near Wolverhampton Bus Station – in aid of the Alternative Giving Charity.
People can tap the device with their bank card to automatically send £3 to the charity, which is the first to install a tap to donate device in the region.
It is hoped the move will help boost donations across the city – with the money being split with charities supporting homeless people.
Wolverhampton Business Improvement District (BID) and Wolverhampton Council joined forces to help create the point for charity.
Councillor Jacqueline Sweetman, cabinet member for city assets and housing, said: "The first of these new ‘tap to donate’ points in our city now makes it even easier for people to ensure the money they give gets used for the purpose it was meant for.
"Our work during the coronavirus crisis has built on the collaborative, partnership working approach to services for homeless individuals and rough sleepers in Wolverhampton.
Beneficial
"We want to identify those truly vulnerable people that need our help and are living on the street in desperate conditions. We also want to tackle aggressive street begging.
"The Alternative Giving Charity is about channelling help to rough sleepers in a way which does not support a culture of street living but rather helps vulnerable individuals get off the streets.
"Our key homelessness agencies reinforce this approach as being more beneficial to the homeless than giving directly to people on the streets."
A total of £27,000 has been raised from public and business donations so far which is split to organisations such as P3, St Georges Hub and others in the city.
Cherry Shine, BID director and charity trustee said: "'Tap to donate' provides an easy way to support genuinely homeless and vulnerable people in our city centre.
"This is the first of many tap to donate devices we will roll out to attract donations from city centre visitors.
"By providing an easy way to donate directly to these worthy charities and working together with businesses, we will be able to support a positive change in our city centre in a Covid-safe way”.
People can donate by using the donation points or visiting www.wolverhamptonchange.co.uk
