Cooksmill Green Church is fundraising over the month of December to help the Sanctus Caf and Support Hub as they provide a safe environment, support services and food for the homeless and vulnerable people in Chelmsford.

Last year, the Cooksmill Green Church raised over £1,500 for Sanctus which made a huge difference to the charity and helped to provide food and support services throughout the challenging winter months.

Message from Sanctus:

We are so grateful to have been chosen for a second year for the Cooksmill Green Church Christmas Appeal. We were blown away by the total raised last year and the donations received went towards feeding and supporting our service users throughout the winter months.

This year, Sanctus moved into a larger building which was necessary to accommodate the growing numbers of people who use our services. We opened the doors to the public in July 2021, and since then we have welcomed hundreds of people into our new cafe space and Support Hub, which is over 3 times the size of the building we used before. This move has ensured that we are in the best position possible to meet the needs of the people we help. Our new premises has seating for over 50 people at any one time, a sofa area with a TV, where people can read books, play games and relax. We also have 3 desks with PCs and phones that clients can use for free, a commercial kitchen to enable us to serve the number of meals needed each day, extensive storage facilities, as well as 3 rooms for external providers, 2 Support Hub rooms and a Sanctus office space. This premises facilitates the holistic approach to tackling homelessness in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas, ensuring that each individual has the support available to help them with the challenges they face. All funds raised from Cooksmill Green Church's Christmas Appeal this year will go directly towards supporting our frontline services in the new building. These services include some of the following activities:

In the Sanctus cafe, we provide for free:

- A safe and warm environment where individuals, who have nowhere else to go, feel comfortable to come and request help.

- Daily freshly prepared, nutritious meals which are served alongside hot and cold drinks, snacks, sandwiches, pastries and items from our food bank style service. In 2020, we served over 16,900 meals.

- We also distribute clothes, tents, sleeping bags, toiletries and other essential items. Over 200 benefited from this service in 2020.

Located on the floors above the Sanctus cafe, our Support Hub provides a range of free vital services:

- 1-2-1 mentoring, assistance with gaining housing and sustaining tenancies, benefits applications, medical signposting, furnishing homes, addiction and mental health support, health and wellbeing advice and support services, enrichment activities, training courses, CV workshops, and a range of advice and advocacy services. Working alongside numerous different agencies, helping to build an eco-system of support for our clients.

- Over 1,100 free support sessions were completed in 2020, the importance and outcomes from these sessions cannot be overestimated. Especially throughout the pandemic, with many of our clients suffering from deteriorating mental health and severe financial hardship. Just one session may mean that someone completes a benefits form, reobtains their ID, decides against drastic steps or receives help or advice with their challenges. These all help to progress or further progress their journey in a positive way.

- In 2020, the Sanctus Hub Support team assisted in the re-housing of scores individuals, 10 individuals were directly re-housed into fully furnished housing where Sanctus provided kitchen goods, furniture and other items for their new home. Numerous evictions were prevented through our tenancy sustainment programme which ensures individuals do not end up back on the streets.

Our motto is Love All Serve All, which means that if someone comes to us in need of food and support, they will not be turned away. We support some of the most marginalised people in our community including the homeless, the hidden homeless, isolated people, those with significant mental health issues, individuals with disabilities and other complex health needs, addiction sufferers, those who have survived, at risk of, or experiencing abuse, ex-offenders, early release prisoners or those who at risk of (re)offending, refugees and asylum seekers, veterans, and many other vulnerable individuals in the community who are in need of support, food and companionship.

Sanctus is a small charity and without the support and generosity of people such as yourselves, we would not be able to offer all that we do to those in need. We are truly grateful for your donations.