AN URGENT SOS has been issued by two voluntary groups who have been hit with the threat of shutdown.

The Medway Asthma Self Help group and the First Step Drop-in Centre have been left stunned that closure could be imminent.

The asthma group needs to find £600 a month to prevent having to shut its doors to more than 300 sufferers. For the past three years the centre in Watling Street, Gillingham, has been surviving on cash from West Kent Health Authority and a lottery grant.

But the grant has run out and charity chiefs are facing a dead end.

The drop-in centre in Northgate, Rochester, has been the Medway Messenger newspaper's Christmas Appeal for the past three years, but is fast running out of cash to provide basic food to the homeless.

The centre needs £6,000 a year to provide meals, clothes, hot showers and take-away food bags for visitors.

Bob Dimond, editor of the Medway Messenger, said: "The desperate plight of these two organisations shows just how difficult it is for voluntary groups to find the funding vital if they are to survive. We hope by highlighting these difficulties, the kind-hearted people of Medway will find ways of offering a helping hand."

Anyone wishing to help either organisation is asked to telephone Mr Dimond on 01634 821326.