Edinburgh charity, Street Assist, are asking for the public to get behind their Kilt Walk appeal as they desperately try to raise money for a new patient transport service (PTS).
The charity, which looks to keep members of the public safe during the night time economy hours of the weekend, were hoping that their Kilt Walk fundraiser would be able to raise the £15,000 that the organisation would rely on to break even for the year.
However, a rise in the use of Street Assist has meant that they have had to invest thousands in new radio equipment as well as a further £9,000 for a new PTS van which has been described as a “workhorse vehicle” by director Neil Logan.
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Volunteers who make up the staff at the charity rely on a PTS van in order to transport people to hospital and to their home. Without it, Neil says that there would be an added strain on emergency services like the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Their existing van unfortunately failed its MOT last week and therefore Neil will have to travel to Manchester to get a new vehicle that is understood to cost in the range of £9,000.
Each year Street Assist must raise £55,000 in order to be able to break even. £20,000 of this comes from a grant distributed by the community safety partnership whereas a further £20,000 comes from NHS Lothian from a fund called the ‘unscheduled care programme.’
This means that the organisation would have had to raise an extra £15,000 this year but with the added costs this is closer to £24,000.
On the need for a new PTS, Neil said: “This vehicle is our workhorse van. We have four other cars but the PTS is the only vehicle that our insurance will cover for transporting the people we treat to hospital or back home.
“Before the pandemic we would receive around 10 to 15 calls a night but post Covid we are receiving around 20 to 30. We can use this van in order to help transport people who do not require an ambulance but need hospital care to A and E as well as to take people home if they are unable to do so themselves.
“At the moment there are already three to four hour waits for ambulance call outs and our work means that we can help relieve the strain on this service. But we are not able to do that without this van.
“Unfortunately we did not know we would need to cover this cost until the van spectacularly failed its MOT on Monday. So now we will have to travel to Manchester to get a new van which will cost around £9,000.”
So far the group have managed to raise around £6,000 between them. Over twenty volunteers will be taking part across the three different Kilt Walk routes with children of volunteers doing the ‘Wee Wonder’ and the majority trekking on the ‘Mighty Stride’ over 24 miles.
The Tom Hunter Foundation has agreed to match 50 per cent of any funds raised so at the moment the group will be able to cover the cost of the new vehicle. But Street Assist still requires additional funds in order to break even for the year and cover the cost of training new volunteers, new uniforms, equipment and vehicle maintenance.
On the support they have received so far and the hope of additional support in the future, Neil added: “A lot of our support comes from members of the public that hear about our work on the TV, radio or by reading about us on Edinburgh Live. We would like to thank everyone that has supported our Kilt Walk fundraiser as well as those that have donated to our general requests for support.
“I know it is tough at the moment but even if folk can sponsor us for a fiver then it will all help in supporting our work and getting in the vital equipment that we rely upon to carry out our duties. Every penny that we get is reinvested into the project - every penny is accounted for.”
You can support the Neil Logan's Street Assist Kilt Walk here.
You can also visit their website and learn more about what they do here.
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