Windsor Team Ministry

Windsor Homeless Project

Windsor may be unique in many ways with its exceptional beauty, its historical splendour and, of course, its very own Royal Family, but there is one thing that our town has in common with every other location in the British Isles and that is a homeless community.

Sadly, within the royal Borough there is a growing number of men and women of varying ages whose lives have taken an unexpected turn that has led to them having no other choice than to live on our streets.  These individuals often sleep in dismal and sometimes dangerous conditions, barely existing from one day to the next and in all cases drinking alcohol simply to forget.

These people experience little in the way of joy and generally are completely devoid of those simple pleasures that we all take for granted.  However, as bad as things may at times be for our homeless there is in fact some hope.

For many months myself, Father Ainsley Swift and Minister Mark Richardson along with the Revd Mary Barnes and many diligent volunteers have been working on an initiative to help.  We started by providing cups of tea and coffee on occasion from Trinity Church to those individuals who gather on the benches.  This then led us to being able to provide sandwiches and donated clothing, all of which were very well received.  Then we started to think about the possibility of providing a venue for the homeless where they could come once a week in order to get more substantial food, including fruit and vegetables, along with warm drink in a comfortable environment.  We envisaged them being able to stay for several hours allowing them to swap the hard pavement or unforgiving benches for a sofa in a warm and safe location.  Our intention was also to provide companionship, further clothing , toiletries and a place where they could get clean.  We also had a clear idea of our longer term ambition which was to provided help and advice in relation to medical concerns, possible rehabilitation, education and even housing.

I now feel very privileged to be able to say that our project is going exceedingly well, having been running for some nine weeks from the Baptist Church, where we open the back rooms every Wednesday from 12.30 to 14.30.

Along with the invaluable help from the volunteers and the two local food retailers that kindly donate what they can each week, we also have involvement from the Royal Borough’s drugs and alcohol team who have been able to offer help and support.  It has been extremely well received by the homeless who without exception turn up every week and abide by the rules that they must be sober and without alcohol.

As the project moves forward we are seeing real improvements in many within the group, both physically and mentally, with one learning to write and several others entering  a treatment process for their alcoholism.

We are continually looking at adapting the project to suit the needs of our members and are already planning to expand it for the winter when we aim to run a ’soup kitchen’ on a Thursday night and a Monday morning drop-in.  This is in addition to our hope of being able to find some element of shelter for the group.

What we must remember is that our homeless community didn’t choose this life.  They had and in some cases still have aspirations of a better future and in most cases that is simply to have a roof over their heads.  What our project demonstrates is that these people who are often regarded as ’losers’ are nothing of the sort and every week show that they can be motivated to something other than drinking.  They have also proved that our homeless community are really decent men and women who are intelligent and pleasant and in truth are not too dissimilar to me or you.  

With a little help lives can be changed.

PCSO David Bullock 

 

Church Housing Trust at Team Service on 25th January

We hope very much that you will attend the team service at 10am in All Saints' church on 25th January and be ready to contribute to the Church Housing Trust.  They are providing a speaker who is Christopher Symonds, an Education and Training Specialist Worker at Hamble Court in Reading which is home to 35 single homeless men and women with a variety of support needs.  Christopher has been recently instrumental in setting up a room within the facility to teach the residents IT skills - essential to obtaining work in many spheres.

Making a Difference with the Church Housing Trust

"I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and

you gave me a drink, I was a stranger

and you received me in your home,

naked and you clothed me; I was sick

and you took care of me, in prison

and you visited me."

                                            Matthew 25:35-36

The Church Housing Trust, www.churchhousingtrust.org.uk is not a multi-million pound charity operating across the world with shops in most large towns in this country.  It is a small charity which operates close to the recipients of its help and often gets to know them as individuals.  In November last year residents and staff from Hamble Court in Reading enjoyed a communal barbecue and fireworks evening, thanks to some funding from CHT.  The hostel staff said it was really good to see different types of personalities mixing together for this event.  Nearly all who attended helped with either food preparation or setting everything up and the event promoted a strong sense of community between them all.  The residents all appreciated the evening and enjoyed themselves.  One said, “We appreciate events like this involving staff and residents spending time together.”

This year CHT allocated £70,000 to pay for new kitchens and other vital improvements to the Townsend Gardens project in Birmingham which consists of 11 terraced houses which are shared by 47 homeless girls and women.  The new kitchens caused great jubilation among the residents, who contributed their own ideas towards the choice of fixtures and fittings.  The old kitchens were really worn out and uninviting but now they look lovely with beech finish cupboards, lemon and magnolia painted walls, and matching colours on the floor and work surfaces.

Money was also raised to undertake bathroom refurbishment at the project.  It’s small-scale stuff, just like the story from Matthew above or the tale of the Good Samaritan.  CHT is not geared to help Tsunami victims or those made homeless by earthquakes.  It’s the kind of charity which will help the individual who sleeps rough on a winter’s night or the child who runs away from drunken parents. 

If you feel attracted to such a charity, we hope to see you at the Team Service at All Saints on 25th January 2009 where we will be collecting for Church Housing Trust.