Paul Wells
Thanet Winter Shelter 2020-21
Fundraising for The Salvation Army
Story
COVID-19 Causes Thanet Winter Shelter Crisis
Thanet Winter Shelter has, for the past four years, provided overnight accommodation, hot food and security in church halls, for dozens of people who would otherwise have been on the streets during the coldest months of the year.
This year the challenge of providing safe bed-spaces is even greater as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-safe rules mean dormitory-style sleeping in halls, where several people share the same space is no longer permitted or funded. This has left charities that help those affected, and the immediate communities that they live in, with a crisis on their hands. Thanet and other shelter schemes in Kent have a massive headache in that they are all now desperate to secure alternative accommodation with self-contained bedrooms, and time is
running out!
Whatever solution emerges will involve rental and staffing costs that were not incurred under the previous arrangements. Our dedicated team of volunteers will still support guests but more paid workers will be needed for a 24/7 operation rather than overnight-only in church halls, furthermore individual meals may also need preparing and delivering as communal catering is no longer viable. All of these factors will increase costs to run the shelter.
Whilst Thanet District Council and the Ministry of Housing provide part-funding, the shelter relies heavily on fund-raising and donations from organisations and individuals in the local community, to raise the additional money required to keep the shelter running from November
to the end of March (20 weeks).
We are in unprecedented times, COVID-19 has impacted us all and this year your financial help is required more than ever to support the Thanet Winter Shelter. Sadly, we expect an increase in the number of homeless when the job-protecting furlough scheme and the ban on evictions come to an end. This will add to the number of people dependent on the shelter for the basic necessities that many of us take for granted.
Please help us to provide this essential, and potentially life-changing support to the homeless of Thanet this winter. Donations, however large or small, can be made by clicking the Donate button.
Thank you for your support!
Personal message from Carl Whitewood, Salvation Army, Ramsgate Corps Leader:
"The shelter makes a life transforming difference. At its simplest are the large number of guests each year who leave the shelter to establish their own homes. Many have sustained their tenancies and are rebuilding their lives. It is almost impossible to find employment, tackle addiction or mental health problems or restore relationships when battling to simply survive on the streets. Rough sleeping robs one of dignity and the belief that things can change. The shelter has been for many the first step to recovery."
"Of course, we want to stop people freezing on the streets, provide food, clothing and safety. This year comes the challenge of COVID-19. How do you self-isolate or protect yourself on the streets? The challenge we are all tackling is magnified if you have no safe space to go to. We cannot allow rough sleeping during a pandemic. Yet our real goal is to provide an environment where the guests believe their lives can change. We have seen it happen and pray with your help it will happen again this winter".
The Thanet Winter Shelter really does provide an important first step to empowering rough sleepers to turn their lives around, Marc Walsh is testament to that. Marc came to the shelter in 2017 after 6 months on the streets.
Marc's story:
“I had split up from my wife, was using drugs and drinking to stop how I was feeling and had not seen my kids for about 10 months. I had got into a really bad place. Then the shelter came up and I managed to get in and worked with different people. I was the last person to get housed that year, just two days before the shelter ended.”
“It was different from now with Rise and all the services. I was in a bedsit in Cliftonville but had no support. I got really low and wanted to die. I gave someone at Aspire (homelessness service) a letter for my wife asking for help. She took me to the Forward Trust where I saw my old probation officer. He got me into detox and then I went to rehab."
“I had always used drugs, from about the age of 13, but I managed to have a job and tried to live a proper life. I didn’t like the way I felt so I would use something to make me feel better. It became the problem but it wasn’t the cause, that was down to childhood trauma."
“Once I came off everything then I had to deal with that trauma. I know myself inside out now. I’ve been clean for nearly 2 years and I am back with my wife.”
Marc is now a member of the RISE team and is able to draw on his own experience to support rough sleepers who are in the same position as he was when he first came to the shelter. He adds:
“I get on well with people and they know I have been there, I don’t hide anything. I love what I am doing and I feel lucky.”
The work of the Salvation Army:
The Salvation Army is a Christian Church & registered Charity working in 130 countries worldwide and is one of the largest and most diverse providers of social welfare in the world. In the UK and Republic of Ireland this work includes more than 800 Salvation Army social service centres and community churches. We provide unconditional friendship, support and very practical help to people in crisis and need and work with children, homeless people, all adult victims of modern slavery and those dealing with drug and/or alcohol addiction.