The City of London Corporation will make a Christmas donation of£15,000 to three London-based charities who work with homeless andvulnerable people.

Crisis, Providence Row and St Mungo"s will each receive £5,000from the City Corporation"s Combined Relief and Poverty Charity tohelp with their programmes over the festive period.

The grant will support Crisis, a national charity for singlehomeless people, with its Crisis at Christmas project. Thisprovides food, support and a range of services for around 2,000homeless and vulnerable people in London during 23-30 December.

Providence Row has been based in London"s East End for 150 yearsand tackles the root cause of homelessness to help people get offand stay off the streets. It offers a basic breakfast and showerservice, provides support with accessing housing and benefits andbuilds employment and language skills.

St Mungo"s provides over 100 accommodation and support projectsto around 1,700 people throughout the year, primarily in centralLondon. This year the charity has a specific focus on improvingliteracy and numeracy and the City Corporation grant will assistwith its Pathways to Employment programme, which fosters a cultureof expectancy that homeless men and women can - and do - work.

Roger Chadwick, Chairman of the City of London Corporation"sFinance committee, said: "The work undertaken by Crisis, ProvidenceRow and St Mungo"s is really valuable, particularly at this time ofyear, and the City Corporation is pleased to be able to supportthese programmes."