UPDATE:

We have been absolutely blown away by the generosity of our supporters and community. To have almost reached the initial target of £3,000 means so much to us and will help hugely with the cost of feeding our service users throughout December as well as the Christmas and New Year period. Thank you to everyone who has already donated! We know that many would still like to give to Sanctus to support our food offerings, so we have increased our fundraising target to £5,000. Every penny donated over the initial target of £3,000 will go towards the cost of meals throughout the remaining winter months which are typically some of the hardest times of year for our service users. We will be continuing to serve freshly cooked, nutritious hot meals every day throughout winter and the cost of a meal for just one person is only £3.89. If you can donate to support us with this, we would grateful appreciate it.

Sponsor a meal for a homeless or vulnerable person this Christmas.

Many of us have found lockdown difficult, even for those of us lucky enough to have 4 walls and a roof, not to mention the support of loved ones. Now imagine going through it with the added impact of rough sleeping and no emotional support. This is where Sanctus comes in.

Sanctus is a lifeline and essential for many but never more so than now. We managed to safely stay open every single day of 2020. Even through the toughest of circumstances, we adapted to help our clients who had been left more vulnerable than ever due to COVID-19.

We came together to continue to provide the basic needs of food and human support that we all take for granted. This Christmas, more than any other, we need your kindness. We are determined to ensure that all of our service users get their turkey, gravy and Christmas cracker, and this is where you come in. £3.89 would provide one of our normal daily meals which is for many users of Sanctus their only meal of the day. £5.62 will provide one special festive meal with all the trimmings, which we will be serving for 5 days over the festive period. We cant express enough what an impact this will make to vulnerable people in our community.

We appreciate that many people are struggling but if you are in a position to make a small donation at this time, we would be very grateful. We will be continuing to serve food every day throughout December with a special festive meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, as a takeaway service. We believe that no one should miss out on having a Christmas meal, and we are actually going to serve five special festive meals to show our service users that the Chelmsford community is thinking of them.

£3.89 - Will cover one of our normal meals for someone in need.

£5.62 - Will cover one of our special festive meals being served across the Christmas and the New Year period.

£19.02 - Will cover two normal meals and two special festive meals.

£28.10 - Will cover a special festive meal on each of the five days they will be served.

How has Sanctus taken on the challenge of COVID-19?

It has been a difficult year but Sanctus has faced each challenge head on with determination to consistently deliver our support services to the homeless and vulnerable of Chelmsford and the surrounding areas. Something that we are proud to say we have achieved.

We would like to take this opportunity to share the year we have had with you, and we appreciate you taking the time to listen:

2019 ended positively with lots of achievements, some 2019 highlights included:

- Serving over 18,300 freshly cooked meals for free within a warm and secure environment.

- Over 22,000 items (sandwiches, pies, etc.) which would have gone to waste were collected from local Chelmsford businesses and given away in the café.

- Sanctus completed over 1,100 free counselling, advice and advocacy sessions. The importance and outcomes from these sessions cannot be overestimated. 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.

- Over 150 people obtained clothes and sanitary products from Sanctus, 70+ people were provided with tents, sleeping bags and other items and more than 30 people were given kitchen goods, furniture and other items for their new homes.

- 11 different agencies utilised Sanctus building to offer their services to the vulnerable of Chelmsford, helping to build an eco-system of support for our clients.

- Sanctus assisted in the re-housing of scores of individuals, 26 individuals were directly re-housed and numerous evictions prevented.

In March 2020, Sanctus faced one of the biggest challenges in its history. However, no one baulked, if anything our team became more determined than ever to be there for our clients. When the first lockdown came, and shops closed the challenges the homeless and vulnerable faced were even more significant. People who were housed found the lockdown incredibly difficult. Those on the street found their sources of food, funds and support had disappeared. These people were genuinely desperate.

The staff and volunteers of Sanctus were asked if they wanted to continue and every single person stepped forward and kept on working. Even those who needed to shield took some persuading to stay at home! After some hasty process changes and COVID assessments we switched to a takeaway service and we continued to remain open. The team came in every day, cooked and put food into take away containers. Queues formed down the road for access to a hot meal. We realised that the meal we were giving out was the only food many people were eating each day. We then started to provide a packed lunch, which included sandwiches, snacks, crisps and bottled water.

So much support for the vulnerable had gone. We were deemed an essential service by the Council and had the remit to continue and help as much as we could. The fact that people were coming to us gave the added bonus that our Hub Support team could watch out for those struggling and provide help.

Central Government provided councils with money to temporarily house some people in hotels. However, the hotels, which were amazingly helpful, had limited staff and no cooking facilities. We started each day by preparing food ready to be collected and delivered to those temporarily housed. We were one of the last provisions of free food for the homeless and vulnerable in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas, as other services had unfortunately been forced to close.

While the roads were empty and everyone was glued to the TV for news updates, our teams were on site every day serving and supporting the people who would queue along Broomfield Road to collect food and seek help in other ways. Our service has been a lifeline and essential for so many, especially this year. While it was challenging, we are really proud to say that Sanctus has remained open every single day of 2020 providing food and support services. We achieved this safely, based on working practices and we have had no COVID outbreaks to date. The team are vigilant as they are so aware of the impact if Sanctus were to close.

The team noticed many people struggling which is why our mentoring and 1-2-1 support services continued. The Hub team have assisted in some really complex cases this year, achieving some amazing outcomes. Through this provision, our team have built the relationships and connections to be able to identify those in need, to list who is out there and, as the trust has been built up, to give those people the help and support they need.

The hotel provision that was supported by the Council has meant some people who were street homeless have now been housed on a more permanent basis. Sanctus have also assisted many people into housing across this period, we have been involved in 25+ cases over the last few months, which has been something positive to have come out of this situation. However, people being given a property can often be the start of the challenge. We have helped furnish their properties, to sort benefits, to address addictions and other challenges. Keeping those people in their new homes is now a key focus of our team.

With the second lockdown, we are seeing new people coming to Sanctus each day. We have had mothers queue up with their kids asking for a meal. Our team made sure they were all given plenty of freshly cooked food. The economic reality of this situation means many people are struggling. On top of financial hardship, we are seeing the impact of domestic abuse and the mental health crisis. The reality is that both of these areas are going to need major support for 2021, these issues will be nationwide and we intend to play our part in helping people.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and we wish you a Merry Christmas from everyone at Sanctus and all of our service users.