International Women’s Day 2025 – 8 ways you can help women in London
Looking for a way that you and your team can accelerate action for women in London?
On 8th March – International Women’s Day – people worldwide celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, and advocate for women’s rights and female empowerment. This year’s theme is #AccelerateAction, a call to speed up the rate of progress towards gender equality [1].
Individuals and corporate teams in London have the opportunity to take part in this global movement by supporting local charities. One powerful way to make a difference is by getting involved with organisations that are dedicated to empowering women, such as the Marylebone Project. The Marylebone Project provides a life-changing service for women to overcome homelessness, including the UK’s only women’s only 24/7 drop-in centre, 112 residential beds, and education and employment opportunities. We believe in providing a safe environment for women in which they can rebuild trust, learn to re-engage with society and start to rebuild their lives.
Here are 8 impactful ways you can help on 8th March and beyond:
1. Take Part in a Fundraising Event
Come together with your team or friends and join a fundraising event to support women in your community! Join the London Night Walk on Friday, 14th March 2025 and raise funds for a good cause. Together, we will reflect on the struggles faced by vulnerable women, who often walk through the night to avoid danger when they are without safe shelter. Enjoy entertainment, pit stops, and a vibrant community atmosphere. For more information, click here.
Prefer travelling on wheels? Cycling enthusiasts can make their way from London to Brighton on Sunday, 15th June 2025, for our first ever charity bike ride. By participating, you directly support women facing homelessness in London. You can sign up as an individual or a team to raise awareness and funds whilst being active and fostering your team spirit. Find out more here.
You can also raise funds by hosting your own events, for example an office bake sale, or pub quiz night with questions on inspiring women and gender equality. You can use our fundraising page to start your appeal.
2. Visit A Women’s Art Exhibition
Mark International Women’s Day by celebrating female artists! As part of art therapy at the Marylebone Project, some of our amazing women have created powerful artwork that will be shown at St Marylebone Art Space in London from Thursday, 6th March to Friday, 21st March 2025.
The exhibition is free and open from Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 5.30am, on Saturday between 9am and 5pm and Sunday from 8am to 4pm. Art therapy allows women to express their feelings as well as heal from the distress and trauma often caused by homelessness or abuse. Exhibiting their art is a chance for their voices to be heard.
The display follows the huge success of a previous exhibition at Marylebone Station in collaboration with Chiltern Railways and Baker Street Quarter. In case you have missed it the first time round, the Marylebone Project’s display will be open to view at the station once again from the 5th to 11th March 2025 in celebration of International Women’s Day. In addition, the artwork will be shown at private displays at two central London office buildings.
3. Join our Online Community
By reading this article, you’ve already supported the Marylebone Project – thank you! We like to put as much of our funding as possible into supporting women to overcome homelessness, so we don’t pay for digital marketing and the growth of our online communities is completely organic. Reading our blogs, engaging with us on social media, signing up to our newsletter, leaving us a comment, sharing our posts in the group chat – you’re advocating for us and showing that you believe in supporting the most vulnerable women in our society. So, give us a follow on your favourite platform:
- Sign up to our newsletter for occasional updates
- Follow us on Instagram @maryleboneproject
- Check us out on Facebook @maryleboneproject
- Connect with us on LinkedIn @the-marylebone-project
4. Make a Financial Contribution
Every day is women’s day at the Marylebone Project. Our 24/7 drop-in centre, the Sanctuary, provides women experiencing homelessness with a safe space all year round. The need for our service is ever-increasing. In winter 2023/2024 alone, we’ve had 252 new service users access the Sanctuary, a 133% rise compared to the previous year. Increasing demand also means increasing costs. To be able to continue our work, we rely on your generosity. For International Women’s Day 2025, we are aiming to raise £6,000, so we can continue to be here supporting women to overcome homelessness and crisis. If you are able to help us reach our target, you can make a donation here.
5. Share Your Skills
Help our women grow by sharing your expertise. Whether it is healthy eating, financial advice, or confidence building, your workshop can support our women in their personal development and equip them with important skills for employment. Get in touch with our team to plan your workshop by emailing hello@maryleboneproject.org.uk. Workshops are available from April 2025.
6. Book A Meeting Room
Looking to host an event or meeting in central London? Our Social Enterprise, Space in Marylebone, offers three versatile meeting rooms for hire. All profits are reinvested into providing further opportunities for women at the Marylebone Project. We are located a 5-minute walk from Marylebone Rail Station and Edgware Road Underground station, and a 10-minute walk from Baker Street Underground Station. With every booking you can enjoy free tea, coffee and biscuits, and access facilities including free Wi-Fi, flipchart and projection equipment. Find your perfect space here or get in touch via mim@madeinmarylebone.co.uk.
7. Collect Physical Donations
One of our service users, Juliette, opened up about her story facing homelessness, including an incident where she woke up to find all her personal belongings stolen. You can support women like Juliette by providing them with physical donations like new, unopened toiletries, unused towels or clothes that are new or in good, lightly worn condition. You can donate individually or collect donations from your friends, colleagues or community. Get posting in that group chat!
Not sure what to get? Here are some ideas for useful donations for our service, but please check with each service that you plan on donating to if you can:
- Easter Eggs (who doesn’t love chocolate!). We currently need 80!
- Non-perishable food, such as pasta, rice, sugar, tea, coffee, long-life milk pots, lentils, tinned soup, cuppa soup
- Full-sized toiletries, in particular ‘pampering’ items like Body Moisturiser, Face Moisturiser, Flannels, Loofahs, body sprays alongside essentials like deodorant, period products, baby wipes, SPF
- Toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash
- New makeup products
- Clothes for all sizes
- Shawls, blankets
- Trainers, sturdy shoes
- Towels in good condition
- Lockable, sealable fridge food storage boxes like this
- Electronic devices, e.g. mobile phones, laptops, TV screens
- Kitchenware, e.g. mugs, cutlery, pots and pans
- Tupperware with sealable lids
- Home storage plastic containers
- Notebooks, planners
You can deliver your donations to Donations, Marylebone Project, Bradbury House, 1-5 Cosway St, London, NW1 5NR. Please deliver items unwrapped, and don’t include candles, bubble bath or opened toiletries/makeup. Or send us an email to hello@maryleboneproject.org.uk.
8. Be Kind.
There’s a lot of talk about kindness online, but for our women, human kindness can be truly life-changing. We’ve all walked past someone experiencing homelessness, sometimes unsure how to help. You might think, ‘I’m just one person, I can’t change anything about their situation’. While kindness alone won’t get someone off the streets, many of our women say it helped them survive. One woman recalled about sheltering in a train station:
“The kindness of station staff and passers-by, offering a hot drink and treating [me and the other homeless women] like human beings, got us through the night.”
Even a smile or a simple “good afternoon” can brighten someone’s day. If you’d like to do more, offering a hot drink or food is thoughtful – just check dietary needs. Always be mindful of safety, but remember: your small act of kindness, matters.
