Streetwise Summer 2018

STREET Summer WISE 2018

Spike’s story “You’ve fed me, clothed me.”

Sleep Out turned Sleep In When the main Sleep Out was snowed off, our volunteers found a way

THE SUPPORTER MAGAZINE OF CRISIS CENTRE MINISTRIES

“It doesn’t matter what your background is – you’re forgiven and people take you as you are.”

Contents / 1 News in brief / 2 Client story: Spike / 4 Sleep Out turned Sleep In / 6 Client story: Jon / 10 DPD delivers / 12 Summer volunteering / 13 Finance / 14-15 From our guests / 16 Upcoming events /

Editorial

About us

Summer is here, and with it the welcome relief that those living on the streets no longer have to face the freezing conditions they did earlier this year.

We are a Christian charity that has been working in Bristol for over 30 years. We’re dedicated to helping the most vulnerable and marginalised in society achieve healthy and independent lives.

It’s for this reason, however, that homelessness can tend to slip off the public agenda over the warmer months. Sadly the fact that it’s less frequently featured in the media doesn’t mean that it’s any less of a problem. With numbers of homeless people continuing to rise across the country, the crisis is more pressing than ever.

But it’s not without hope. Thanks to your continued support, we’re able to share stories from Jon and Spike: two of the many people whose lives have changed because of your generosity. It’s also a privilege to highlight the brilliant work of our volunteers and fundraisers, without whom Crisis Centre Ministries simply could not function.

Finally, you’ll find an Easter card from one of our guests, named Mark, whose message is for all of you.

Matt Parsons Editor

Our mission is to empower personal change through offering food, shelter, hope and support through our four main projects: the Wild Goose drop-in centre, the Life Recovery project, East Bristol Foodbank and Spring of Hope women’s night shelter.

Contact us

32 Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0QY T. 0117 330 1230 admin@crisis-centre.org.uk www.crisis-centre.org.uk Company No. 2214814 Registered Charity No. 298528

News in brief The Homelessness Reduction Act

Dying Homeless

In April, a new piece of legislation known as the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) came into effect. It increases local councils’ duty towards homeless people – previously, councils were duty-bound to rehouse only people deemed ‘unintentionally homeless’.

Now, however, councils have a responsibility to house all homeless people, as well as those threatened with homelessness.

After it was reported that 78 homeless people died over the winter in the UK, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism launched Dying Homeless – a long-term project to track and count those that die homeless on UK streets.

The Bureau has also begun to collect the stories of those who have died, which you can find by searching for ‘Dying Homeless’ online.

A note about practical donations Unfortunately, due to our storage space being reduced, we can only accept certain practical donations. To see what’s most useful for us and for homeless people, check the Practical Items page on our website at crisis-centre.org.uk/practical-items

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Client story

SPIKE I’ve always lived in the Bristol area. About six months ago I was made homeless. I’d been living in a hostel for three years then, six months ago, they ejected me. I don’t know why.

have never been so cold and down about everything, my life and where I was. It was horrible. It makes it harder that homeless people on the street are treated like scum.

Anyone can end up on the street. You’re only one knock on the door away.

I left the hostel and went downhill. I didn’t know about that side of life. I didn’t know what it was like to be homeless. I was sleeping here and there. I did a couple of nights at the skateboard park up by the big Tesco, some on park benches and some in the bear pit.

Here, there and everywhere. Getting up in the morning, you’re trying to get warm because you’ve been cold all night. When it’s been raining, you’re also trying to get dry. You take for granted the basic things like being able to brush your teeth, have a shower and have somewhere to go to the toilet.

When I eventually got a room at the Salvation Army, I sat on the bed and cried.

I found out about the Wild Goose from friends and other people on the street and the Compass Centre. When I see my key workers they tell me the places to get food and more help. You’ve fed me, clothed me. I’ve used your shower. You’ve given me a rucksack, gloves and hat. You let me use your phone so that I

I was homeless for about three months. It was one of the hardest times in my life. I 2

could call doctors and job centres. Yesterday I came to see the doctor at your wet clinic. This morning I came here for my breakfast.

Without places like this it would just be horrible.

What would you do? You would starve to death.

I don’t even always eat a lot – often I just want some interaction. When you have been alone all night, or all week or all month with no one to chat to but yourself you can go crazy. I have a TV, but I still have no one. Even though I’m building my way back up slowly it still feels like I am by myself. I think there is still quite a lot of stigma around places like this.

My next step is to move out of the Salvation Army and to have somewhere with my own front door. The Salvation Army is a nice place to live but it’s very hectic. I am bidding for flats through the council.

“Without places like this it would just be horrible.

What would you do?”

The support for homeless people in Bristol is actually very good. But I think you have to want to do it.

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t u O p e e l S d e n r tu n I p e Sle 4

Back in March, on the Tuesday morning before the Sleep Out, things weren’t looking so good. Temperatures were plummeting, and heavy snow was forecast for the end of the week. The ‘Beast from the East’ was fast approaching the UK. What about the people who had no choice but to sleep out in the snow?

Initially, the Sleep Out organisers remained optimistic. “It’s snowed in previous years. It didn’t put us off then, and it won’t put us off now!” they said.

When cold weather like we experienced in March is forecast, the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) is activated.

Part of this protocol means that additional emergency shelter is opened up across the city, including up to an extra 60 beds.

Outreach teams then work day and night to bring people in from the cold. It’s not a viable long-term solution, but it does mean that no one in Bristol has to spend the night out in freezing temperatures.

By Wednesday morning, however, circumstances had changed. The reality of the severe weather was becoming more apparent, and St John’s Ambulance were forced to withdraw medical support for the event, knowing that they would be needed elsewhere. Without this safety net, the Sleep Out couldn’t go ahead.

However, that didn’t stop our intrepid fundraisers. Thirteen of them trekked to Ebenezer Church on the Friday evening, where they spent the night on the floor. (A first-hand source has told Streetwise that the heating was most certainly not turned on.) Another team (including Jon, who designs this magazine) slept in Alma Church. One brave soul even slept in his garage! We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of them, and to anyone else who ‘slept in’ to raise money for homeless people.

Our women’s night shelter, Spring of Hope, is involved in SWEP. When it’s activated, Spring of Hope opens seven nights a week instead of the usual six.

Thanks to our brilliant fundraisers and your generous support, the Sleep Out (or Sleep In) raised

£19,887

for homeless people in Bristol. Thank you.

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Client story

Jon I ended up homeless because of drinking. I started when I was about 13, and it got worse and worse as the years went on. Every Friday night I’d have eight cans. And then it was every Saturday too, and then it was just whenever I had money. I started smoking cannabis around 16. It was with mates – the same crowd I was drinking with. It was just to fit in, basically.

I was homeless for a year, having lost a house two years previous when I split up with my kids’ mother. After that I moved around a lot with work – the idea was that if I moved to a new city I’d sober up. But I always found a new drinking hole. I’d been drinking every day for 16, almost 17 years. But when I was 29, something happened.

I woke up one Sunday morning, and I had the Lord’s Prayer just going round and round in my head. After wandering around Bristol, I finally walked into Pip and Jay’s for their evening service. It was unbelievable. It was like everyone just disappeared, apart from the person giving the word. It was like he was speaking directly to me. I felt so at ease that I started falling asleep.

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The first night I came to LRG, I was 28 days sober and I’d moved into The Junction, a local dry house, that day. I’ve been going ever since. I got baptised there on my 30th birthday – I was LRG’s first ever baptism! We soaked Pip n Jay’s church.

After the service, I got up and went outside, and I got talking to this guy called James.

He said a prayer for me, asking for God to hold me tight and keep me warm. It was like somebody had just given me a big hug, and I had all this warmness come up inside me. And when I went and told Doctor Claire1 that, she said “Yeah, that’s the Holy Spirit!”

I was already having thoughts about giving up drinking – that’s why I was working with Doctor Claire. I was working with BDP (Bristol Drugs Project) as well at the time. But from that Sunday – I haven’t had a drink basically since then.

Back last summer, my anxiety and my depression got hold of me again, and I went down a bit. My sleeping got turned upside down – I was up all night playing Xbox and sleeping all day. I still suffer with anxiety and depression.

But I’m on medication now. I don’t think I need it, ‘cause I’m happy, but I still take it.

Doctor Claire referred me to Life Recovery Group (LRG). She knew I’d come to faith, and that I’d been to the Recovery Festival, so she said, “I think you’d enjoy this,” and gave me a leaflet about it.

I’ve been working with Stuart (LRG Manager) for the last few months, doing one-on-ones.

I told him that I was going to Bristol Bike Project, taking part in their ‘earn a bike’ scheme. Then he said he had a friend who 7

are, today. No one judges you at all and that’s the best thing about it.

owned a bike workshop who was looking for volunteers. So he put me and the owner, Andy, in touch, took me over in January, and here I am! Every single day now. I absolutely love it.

If someone could give me a dream job, this would be it. It was just going to be one day a week – 10am till 2pm on a Wednesday. But I’m here every day now. I’ve even got my own set of keys so I can open up shop in the morning.

1. Dr Claire Fleming is a trustee of Crisis Centre Ministries and previously worked with homeless people at the Compass Centre.

Holy Spokes!

Holy Spokes, where Jon volunteers, is a bike workshop in Barton Hill. Andy, the owner, said that in talking to people who were struggling with life-disrupting issues like addiction, the one thing people said would be most helpful is simply for other people to ‘be there’. It wasn’t that they wanted something to be done for them – they simply wanted people to be around, to be with them.

I love working with bikes, and it’s good company here – it’s just marvellous. I’d missed out on so much with my old sleeping pattern.

Now I just enjoy waking up in the mornings. I feel happy getting out of bed. It’s the first time I’ve felt like that for a very, very long time.

I’d be lost without LRG. It’s my path in my faith. In a normal meeting, we have tea and coffee, then we go into the main room and listen to someone giving a talk, or sharing their story. Then we have a break, some more tea and coffee, and we get back together and feed back on our experiences and what we thought. And then we pray. And you can just come as you are. You can just be yourself, and no one will judge you.

So Holy Spokes was set up as a place where that can happen. People like Andy and John can work together, relax and enjoy each other’s company. Jon has become an integral part of the workshop – not just from a business perspective, but also because of the positive relationships he’s developed with people that spend time there.

“Come as you are to Christ.” That’s what LRG is. It doesn’t matter what your background is – you’re forgiven and people take you as you

“‘Come as you are to Christ.’

That’s what LRG is. It doesn’t matter what your background is – you’re forgiven and people take you as you are, today. No one judges you at all and that’s the best thing about it.”

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9

DPD delivers An interview with Julie Harris

We’re incredibly fortunate to be DPD Credit and Billing’s chosen charity for this year. Not only do the team at DPD very kindly raise money for things we urgently need, but they also volunteer almost every week at the Wild Goose drop-in centre.

Their involvement has largely been led by Julie Harris, Head of Credit Management. But that’s not her only job title – she’s also a deacon in the Church of England and is training to be a priest. She sees helping the vulnerable as being very much part of her own ministry.

What inspired you to get involved?

the park over Christmas.

But after speaking to Jonnie (Wild Goose Manager) at CCM, and learning how much is going on already, we thought the best thing to do would be to get involved at the Wild Goose. And it worked out really well. I think the team really appreciated being able to give their time – to give something that wasn’t just money.

It all started when we put on a picnic in Castle Park for our staff team. It was for charity – our team donated some money, and in return we put on a nice spread and they got a long lunch break.

During the picnic, some homeless people asked if they could have some of our food, and it really struck a chord with the staff team. They wanted to share what they had.

We were all fairly humbled by what we saw. It was quite an eye opener.

We initially thought about setting up a soup run in

“...it really struck a chord with the staff team.

They wanted to share what they had.”

10

You’ve done a shift in the Wild Goose, haven’t you?

What happened next?

After we’d been over the first time, lots more of the team wanted to get involved. That led us to make you our chosen charity for this year. DPD normally supports big, multinational charities – in fact I’ve worked here for 27 years and I can’t remember a time when they haven’t supported charities.

I have! I chopped up a lot of red peppers – in fact, I think I’d be quite happy if I never saw one again. It wasn’t just breezy and ‘do a little bit’, it was hard graft! But it was very, very rewarding.

What were your reflections on your time there?

But we wanted to make an impact locally – to put something back into the community.

So we asked if we could nominate our own charity for the year, and the business has fully supported it. It matches, pound-for-pound, what we raise as individuals.

It was very humbling. I think to be able to help in that sort of situation is a massive vocation, and you could see that Jonnie and Andy (Deputy Manager for Provision) both have a real heart for looking after vulnerable people.

We just get a glimpse of it.

So as well as supporting us through regular volunteering, you’re raising money too?

Yes – at the moment we’re raising money for a new washing machine for the Wild Goose. To make it tangible and get the team enthusiastic about it, we’ve got a cardboard model of one in the break room, with the water level representing how much money we’ve raised so far. We’re raising £1,250 as a staff team, so once the company’s matched it, we’ll have £2,500.

Most of all, there was no judgement, which was brilliant. After all, we’re all just one or two pay packets away from being in that situation.

Could your business help support homeless people in Bristol? If you’d like to find out more about how to get involved, email Yan, our Fundraising and Communications Manager, at yan.lau@crisis-centre.org.uk.

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“I get a great sense of purpose from volunteering and I think I get a huge amount more out of it than I put in.”

– Anna, volunteer on the Engagement team

r e m m u S g n i r e e volunt

Without our many wonderful volunteers, the Wild Goose drop-in centre would be nothing. Their time and generosity keeps the place running, week-in-week-out.

All of this means that we’ve always got plenty of volunteering opportunities available over the summer. So if you’re interested in giving your time for homeless and vulnerable people in Bristol, or know someone who might be, please get in contact with our volunteers coordinator, Steve.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that over the summer, some of our volunteers take a welldeserved break. Some go on holiday, some have child-care commitments and some return home until the new academic year begins.

Email: steve.smith@crisis-centre.org.uk Phone: 07952 672823 12

Finance Income sources Businesses & Organisations – £38.5k Churches – £56.5k Individuals – £199.5k Trusts & Foundations – £180k Other Income – £18k

Total – £492,500 Expenditure Wild Goose Drop-in – £178.5k LIFE Recovery – £94.5k Women’s Night Shelter – £94.5k Foodbank – £47k Fundraising – £77k

Total – £491,500

Figures rounded to the closest £500.

Our current financial status 2017/8 Year to Date (April 2017 to February 2018): Actual Income: £492,500 Actual Expenditure: £491,500 Net surplus/deficit: £1,000 13

14

What your support means to our guests: “Without the Wild Goose, I wouldn’t be here.

You’ve saved my life.”

“If I didn’t have LRG, chances are that I would still be in and out of the prison system. I view it like my little family.”

“I was in tears because I was so moved at the generosity.”

“It’s just nice to know somebody cares, really.”

15

Upcoming events Vision for the Vulnerable

Do you work or volunteer with vulnerable people in Bristol? We’d love to see you at Vision for the Vulnerable. It’s a chance for those who work with vulnerable people to share their stories, encourage one another and come together in prayer. For this session, we’ll be joined by staff from the Christian anti-trafficking charity Help at Home.

Date: Tue 19th June Time: 7:00pm–09:00pm Venue: Cairns Baptist Church, Cairns Road, Westbury Park, Bristol, BS6 7TH

Addiction & Recovery Training: Homelessness to Independent Living This training series, now in its third year, equips churches and pastoral care workers with a better understanding of how to support people struggling with addiction. This session explores the journey to independent living, including the hurdles along the way.

To find out more about this training series or to register for this session please go to www.liferecoverygroup.org/cms/index.php/training LIFE RECOVERY GROUP | SUPPORTING RECOVERY – GROWING FAITH | 2017–18

Date: Sat 7th July Time: 9:30am–12:30pm Venue: Woodlands Church, Woodland Rd, Bristol BS8 2AA

UNDERSTANDING

ADDICTION & SUPPORTING RECOVERY IN THE CHURCH Saturday Morning Training Seminars

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23.09.17 18.11.17 13.01.18 10.03.18

Addiction & the Brain Relapse & Recovery Trauma & Attachment Mental Health

Dr. Fergus Law, Consultant Psychiatrist Ant Newman, Recovery Navigator Fr. Giles Lascelle, Trauma Specialist P-J Charters, BABCP Therapist

Five

reasons why you should donate today 1 2 3 4 5

The number of people rough sleeping in England has risen for the sixth consecutive year, to an estimated 4,134.1 One in every 170 Bristol residents is homeless.2 Recent changes in welfare have led to people being evicted due to the inability to access benefits.3 The growing housing crisis is also fuelling homelessness. For example, rental prices in London have increased 24% since 2010 whilst average wages only 3%.4 A homeless rough sleeper is 35 times more likely to attempt suicide than someone who has never faced homelessness.5 1. Department for Communities and Local Government, 2016: Rough sleeping in England: autumn 2016 2. Shelter, 2017: Far from alone: Homelessness in Britain in 2017 3. Housing Justice, 2017: Homelessness Overview 2017 4. Ibid 5. Ibid

As homelessness increases, your help becomes even more important.

could help provide a vulnerable woman with a clean, warm bed in a safe environment.

17

a month

could help provide a homeless person with a hot meal, emergency supplies and support work.

a month

a month

ÂŁ8 ÂŁ17 ÂŁ30

could help support someone towards employment and independent living.

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Please complete and return this form to: FREEPOST RSTX-XTYH-CJCA, Crisis Centre Ministries, 32 Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0QY

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Please return this form to: FREEPOST RSTX-XTYH-CJCA, Crisis Centre Ministries, 32 Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0QY

Thank you for your support Summer 2018

Get involved

Pray

Donate

Volunteer

Fundraise

Pray for current developments, for our service users, staff and trustees.

Join our expanding team of prayer supporters tackling homelessness in Bristol by emailing prayer@crisiscentre.org.uk

Your contributions help us to provide free hot meals, practical & emotional support and a safe, nurturing environment for homeless and vulnerable people.

You can set up a donation online via our website or fill out and return the attached giving form.

Come and be a part of our life-impacting work. We are a small charity and there is always more that can be done. We need volunteers across the whole organisation from back office admin to front line support of clients.

Call Steve Smith, our volunteer coordinator, on 0117 405 7112 and we will find a role for your skills.

Host an event, take part in a challenge event or nominate us as your preferred charity at your work, church or community group.

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