![St martin's house with St Martin in the Fields, The Connection, 18 keys and Julia Rausing trust's logo](https://www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/wp-content/themes/cstm_2021/img/grey.png)
St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust today announced that it is the recipient of the newly launched Julia Rausing Trust grant.
The inaugural grant of £850,000 has been awarded to St Martin’s for its women’s homeless shelter project, 18 Keys.
The following statement was released by St. Martin’s Trust
The 18 Keys campaign, led by St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust, aims to raise funds to build an intensively supportive form of residential care for women who have experienced long term street homelessness in the capital, known as St. Martin’s house. The awarding of the Julia Rausing Trust grant ensures this vital work can now be completed.
What is the the Julia Rausing Memorial Trust?
Launched today (22nd July 2024) the Julia Rausing Trust has been designed by Hans Rausing to continue to champion causes that were close to Julia’s heart. As one of Britain’s foremost philanthropists Julia Rausing devoted her life to her family and to supporting the arts, health, welfare and education.
Director of the St Martin-In-The-Field’s Trust, Lucy Littlewood said: “Significant grants such as this act as a lifeline to communities such as the women supported by the 18 Keys Project, which forms part of our major fund-raising Yes Campaign. Thanks to the extraordinarily generous grant from the Julia Rausing Trust, St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust can now complete the project to build an additional three-storey building on the site of the existing women only hostel in Wandsworth, and both myself and the whole St Martin’s charity owe them an enormous debt of gratitude”.
Operated by its sister charity, The Connection, 18 Keys forms part of St Martin-in-the-Fields’ major fundraising ‘Yes Campaign,’ which aims to raise £30m by 2030 to ensure the future of the 800-year-old historic site.
Funds raised from the Yes Campaign will restore, rejuvenate and redevelop the iconic church, built nearly 300 years ago, and support vital work with the city’s rough sleepers – including the development of the specialist women’s shelter.
What the funds will help achieve
Once complete, the new building will offer an accessible recovery space with a communal area for social activities and group therapy, a healing garden and a dedicated one-to-one therapy room and two additional studio units.
The new centre will complement the existing Victorian building, offering a safe recovery space for a total of 18 women at a time. With a professional support team and psychotherapist support, women who have experienced the trauma of homelessness and rough sleeping will have a place to call home where they can begin to rebuild their lives.
Chair of the board of trustees, Malcolm Butler, expressed his enormous gratitude that we have been given the faith to honour the life and work of Julia Rausing in this way. “It gives St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust the opportunity to dedicate itself ever more wholeheartedly to fulfilling our innovative project to support long term street homeless women”.
Dame Diana Brittan, Chair of the 18 Keys Campaign Committee expressed her gratitude to all those who have championed the project and especially Hans and Julia Rausing. “This gift marks a ground-breaking point in the project which began in the dark days of Covid. It will act as a complete game changer and allow us to achieve a level of excellence we couldn’t possibly effect without it”.
The St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust has secured over £1.9m, thanks to donations from individuals, corporate supporters and grant-making trusts. The magnificent grant from the Julia Rausing Trust means that the building phase of the 18 Keys Project can begin immediately. When the project is completed at the end of 2025 it will offer a sector-leading recovery and accommodation space for women who are so often overlooked and underserved.