An open door for Oxford's homeless community

gatehouse-black

What we chiefly need

We have a very small clothes store and are not able to stockpile huge amounts of clothing. But we are always asked for the following items and would be very pleased to receive any secondhand or new ones that might be donated:

hats
gloves
tee shirts

socks
boxer shorts
women's pants

There are the [non-perishable] staples that we depend on to provide the usual nightly Gatehouse service:

coffee
sugar
peanut butter
honey
chocolate spread

tea
jam (strawberry preferred)
Bovril
Branston pickle
tuna

Then there are the personal items that guests often ask for:

shaving things
candles

deodorant
shampoo/shower gel

These are the things that we like to keep in reserve to give to guests as individual "welcome packs" when they move into accommodation of their own (N.B. the smaller the better):

coffee
sugar
toothbrushes

tea
jam (strawberry preferred)

Finally, here is a list of things that at the moment we have more than enough of or actually can't use:

cereal
marmalade
baked beans

salmon
sardines/pilchards
Marmite

(If we do receive them we either include them in a welcome pack or pass them on to one of the other agencies for homeless people.)