BillyChip (a currency to help homeless people and dogs)
BillyChip is a safe and secure ‘currency’ that can be bought from participating shops in the community, to give to homeless people, so they can use them to ‘pay’ for a hot drink or meal, or even to buy food (and pet food) at participating outlets.
This enables communities to help feed homeless people and dogs, whilst still following official advice from councils and homeless charities, not to give cash to homeless people (in case it’s spent on drink or drugs, or puts homeless people at risk from robbery).
The idea was set up in memory of a young man (who died in a road accident) who used his time to volunteering, to help homeless people.
The scheme is free to operate for independent shops, as you get money back for distributing the tokens. So it costs nothing for you (you are only charged for the chips sold), but helps to support homeless people in your community, and even can help your business, by boosting your reputation, for doing good in the town or village you live and work in.
Just sign up to create a business account, and receive a welcome pack. The starter kit includes 25 Billy Chips, plus window decals and marketing materials.
Pubs and bars are not allowed to join, to discourage chips being used to buy alcohol. This is not to judge, simply to encourage homeless people who may have alcohol problems, to buy a hot drink instead.
You also get listed online, so local people can search for places to buy a BillyChip to enable local people to buy hot drinks, food and pet food.
General Advice to Help Homeless People
England presently has around 250,000 homeless people (including rough sleepers, sofa-surfers and people living in bed-and-breakfasts). Also read how to help dogs that live with homeless people.
Homeless people can claim benefits (usually Universal Credit), giving the address of a family member or friend, local hostel or job centre. This helps to pay for food (and pet food), job interview clothes and accommodation deposits.
People without bank accounts can use the government’s Payment Exception Service to collect benefits from a local post office or PayPoint outlet.
If you see someone sleeping rough, send a report to StreetLink, whose outreach teams visit rough sleepers at night, to alert them of support to find benefits and accommodation (if the person is under 18, call 999).
