Sleep-over in the night shelter
We are delighted to confirm that the joint churches have set up a Night Shelter to provide much needed overnight warm accommodation with food free of charge for homeless people during the winter months. The Shelter opened on 1st December 2009 and will remain open until 28th February 2010. The venture follows a successful experimental Night Shelter during February 2009 and it is run entirely by volunteers who have had basic training. A special thank you to Rachel Makin (also a volunteer) who has worked tirelessly to co-ordinate the volunteers.
Fourteen churches are providing their halls as accommodation and these are split into two groups of seven. In any given week, a nominated church provides accommodation for one evening while the 6 other churches in the group provide for the other nights in turn.
Referrals into the Night Shelter are provided by KCAH staff (mainly Dani – but also Patricia) and up to 12 people can be accommodated. Each person is provided with a sleeping bag by KCAH and they are asked to carry this around from church to church. The service is free of charge which is appreciated by many guests who are not in receipt of benefits. Food and accommodation is paid for by the volunteers and the churches involved in the scheme. Guests sleep together in the hall as if it were a dormitory.
The first team of volunteers arrives at the venue for the night from 6pm and they prepare the evening meal. Guests arrive from 7.30pm and volunteers and guests eat their evening meal together from 8.15pm. During the rest of the evening, washing up is done and the volunteers spend time chatting to their guests. At the end of the evening, a further team of volunteers arrives to man the night shift. Some volunteers are awake during the night and the team take it in turns to get sleep when they can. We do not expect any trouble (people who are drunk or stoned are not allowed in) and the police are on call if they are needed. Sometimes they call in on a casual visit.
At 6am the following day, a fresh team of volunteers arrive to make breakfast and the guests are frequently served with a cooked breakfast to keep them going during the day. Guests are asked to leave by 8am and all the volunteers return home after 9am once they have cleared up. Many of the volunteers work for a living and so they will go off to do a day’s work.
One advantage of the scheme is that volunteers and KCAH staff can form a good relationship with the tenants and work with them to change their situation. Some will have only recently been made homeless and so Dani and Patricia will work with them to obtain payment of benefits. They can then be referred to a permanent Night Shelter or hostel (like the YMCA) because they can pay the rent payable.
I think you will agree that this is an admirable scheme of self giving to help those in homeless need. Thank you so much to everyone who has given so freely.
Bob Bailey
Editor
