STCCNS: MID-PROJECT SUMMARY

Stoke-on-Trent Churches Community Night Shelter has now been open for nine weeks during the 2016/2017 winter. We recently prepared a project summary for the city’s Homelessness Forum last week and thus we thought we would share this information with all of our supporters.

All of this information refers to the period between Friday 2nd December 2016- Sunday 29th January 2017.

• 36 different guests have accessed the night shelter for at least one night.
• 7 guests are now in more permanent accommodation including 90 Hope Street and Salvation Army Hostels, The Lyme Trust, RESTART properties and private rented accommodation. We have also been able to provide emergency Bed & Breakfast provision for 9 guests.
• These guests have been referred from 9 different agencies: Hanley Police Station, Burslem Police Station, Leek Police Station, Brighter Futures’ Rough Sleepers Team, Voices, The Macari Centre, The WALK Project, EDT and Hanley Baptist Church.
• 61 different volunteers have worked on a night shelter shift and 22 different cooks have provided evening meals. That’s 83 people and counting from the Stoke-on-Trent community caring for those sleeping rough in our city!

These basic statistics really emphasise the community nature of the night shelter project and we hope to build on this further as we continue to support the homeless within Stoke-on-Trent.

A Fortnightly Update! 24/10/16-06/11/16

It’s been a busy fortnight for Stoke-on-Trent Churches Community Night Shelter.

Training Session #1. 30/10/16. Led by Kate Halliday

We had a wonderful first volunteer training session last weekend, led by our very own Kate Halliday. Around 30 volunteers came along which was a fantastic turn out and we covered topics including Drugs & Alcohol Awareness and Mental Health Awareness. The session was held at the YMCA North Staffs who are always so accommodating and have been very supportive of the project so far. Our second volunteer training session is this Wednesday, 9th November, also at the YMCA from 6pm-9pm.

Donations List

Donations

Donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated in order to support our guests this winter:

• Bedding: good quality sleeping bags, camp beds, pillows, pillow cases, roll mats and blankets. [No duvets, thank you]
• Toiletries: shampoo, shower gel, soap, roll on deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, hand sanitiser, flannel, sanitary products, wash bags
• Clothing: hats, scarves, gloves, unopened packs of underwear, socks, tracksuit bottoms, sweatshirts. [Jeans aren’t a good idea because they get wet and can’t be dried easily]

Please get in touch via email or our Facebook page in order to organise donation drop offs.

Thank you so much for your generosity.

Summary: Volunteer Information Evening 14/09/16

Last night, we hosted our first volunteer evening for the upcoming 2016/2017 winter at the fantastic YMCA North Staffs in Hanley. More than 50 folk came along which was almost overwhelming, and everyone was so enthusiastic and interested in the project.

We kicked off the meeting with a brief explanation of who we are, followed by a short icebreaker to get everybody talking which, despite some significant internal groaning I’m sure, actually went down a treat. Working as part of a team is such a key part of the night shelter so it was wonderful to see people that had only just met having a natter and a laugh together.

POSTER: Preparation Meeting 14/9/16

Please find the poster for our next preparation meeting (Wednesday 14th September) via the link below.

Feel free to print this out and pin up at your workplace, church noticeboard or community group – the more the merrier!

Hope to see you there!

Poster meeting 14_9

Getting involved with STCCNS – Winter 2016/2017

As you will have gathered from our website, our volunteer team are what makes operating this night shelter possible. The success of the early 2016 pilot project was a result of the compassionate & enthusiastic individuals that made up STCCNS’s volunteer base.