Guests

OPENING WEEKEND WINTER 2017/18

Last weekend was our first weekend open for the 2017/2018 winter. We had 5 different guests stay with us over the weekend in total, and we were able to provide a hot meal and support to another which is fantastic for our first weekend of the year! A huge thank you to all our volunteers who were on shift for showing such warm welcome and hospitality, and also to our cooks who made such delicious meals for our guests to enjoy.

AWARDS & GRANTS

Last Wednesday, 29th November, Jackie and Kate were invited to the Expert Citizens’ Insight Conference after being nominated as part of the “Learning from people” category for their work with night shelter. Expert Citizens is a fantastic group (part of VOICES of Stoke) which is made up of individuals who use their lived experience of multiple complex needs to improve the lives of others who are experiencing similar challenges. Although we didn’t win, it was wonderful to have the work of night shelter recognized in this way and to learn so much from others at the conference.

Secondly, The Staffordshire Foundation is an organisation which looks after a number of small trust funds within the area and is responsible for awarding financial grants to local community groups. We were thrilled to receive an award of £1,000 to further support the work of the night shelter this winter. Many thanks to Rev Chris Ambler for attending the presentation event yesterday at Port Vale Football Club and receiving our award.

DONATIONS UPDATE

We have had a number of very generous donations from a range of organisations and individuals over the past few weeks for which we are extremely grateful. It would be impossible to name everyone but here are a couple of groups that have supported us most recently:
– 1st Fegg Hayes Boys Brigade and Girls Association. A huge thank you for your wonderful donations of gloves, scarves, hats and socks. These will be very warmly received by our guests this winter.
– Kidsgrove Brownies & Rainbows. Another big thank you for organising a collection to support the work of night shelter.
– Wetley Rocks Methodist Church. We are so grateful for your financial support this winter which will go a long way in enabling us to support our guests beyond the three nights of accommodation we offer.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

EVENT: Tonight, Saturday 9th December, 7pm at Tunstall Methodist Church – Nicki Nicholls will be speaking about her journey from homelessness to fundraiser and campaigner. It would be fantastic to see as many folk there as possible so please come along and support this event this evening.

Don’t forget you can still choose us to be your “local cause” to support every time you visit a Co-op shop! Choose your cause here: https://www.coop.co.uk/membership/local-community-fund

If you are interested in volunteering with us, we are looking to organise another volunteer event in early January due to such large interest. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page to find out more in due course.

This afternoon we had our summer fundraiser – a strawberry tea – at Leigh Memorial Methodist Church. The sun was blazing which meant we could use the lovely garden at the back of the building too as well as inside the church and we had bunting strewn all over the place.

On the menu, we had copious amounts of homemade scones, cakes, cheesecakes and tarts as well as strawberries and cream which were kindly donated by Tesco. Has Bean Coffee provided us with coffee to serve throughout the afternoon, along with tea & cold lemonade.

The raffle sold lots of tickets thanks to the fabulous prizes we had donated, including:
– An ‘Emma Bridgewater’ Experience Day
– A factory tour at Middleport Pottery
– 2 tickets to a New Vic production
– A cream tea for four at Barnicles
– 2 x £10 vouchers for The Kitchen
– A £10 voucher for 51-53 store
– Fish & Chips for 2 at Mothertown Fish & Chips

Our bring & buy stall hosted some wonderful handmade cards, flower arrangements and candles as well as poems written by a local poet and we continued to sell our tote bags which were printed by local print business, ‘Present Workshops.’

The support of local businesses has been truly phenomenal and we are so grateful but nevertheless, the highlight of the afternoon was undoubtedly seeing some of our night shelter guests coming along to volunteer and help out at the event, further building a sense of community within the night shelter project as guests and volunteers worked side by side serving cake and pouring tea.

Overall, we raised a whopping £1016.00 – a truly fantastic sum of money which will go a long way in helping to prepare for the next winter season as well as emergency accommodation provision in the meantime. Our summer fundraiser illustrates just what can happen when communities come together to support one another – here’s to many more successful events which bring the Stoke-on-Trent community together in this way.

Carrie Ambler. 18/06/17.