Crisis Open Christmas.
Mention the charity “Crisis”, and like many people, you probably have a vague image of volunteers ladling out soup to queues of homeless people for a few days over the Christmas period.
Guests staying at one of the seven centres run by Crisis Open Christmas 2006 had access to a lot more than soup. At each of the centres there were a range of services including: medical and dental care; opticians; hairdressing, chiropody; manicures; massage and other alternative therapies; clothing, a sewing and alteration service; laundry facilities; advice and support on anything from mental health and drug and alcohol dependency, to benefits, housing and legal matters; IT facilities and Internet access; and of course, the provision of three hot meals a day and snacks and hot drinks. Almost all of this bounty is provided by donation and staffed by volunteers.
And that is just what was there over the week. Prior to the centres opening on the 23rd December: all the buildings that had been lent to the charity had to be cleaned, wired, plumbed, furnished and decorated with Christmas decorations. In all, 6,500 volunteers were involved and over 1,000 guests were looked after. As the Crisis Volunteer Handbook says, it is a “Herculean effort”.
As I mentioned in the “Postcards” in the New Year, my sister is fresh from the volunteering experience. She found it an amazingly worthwhile thing to do. This is a short account of what she found, how she felt about it and what happened after.
**********************
My sister, Sara, helped out at the “Quiet Centre” This was located in an Old People’s Home which was due to be demolished. Along with the Women’s Centre, the location of this centre was confidential. Having worked before Christmas on the set-up process, she arrived on the 27th December feeling just a little apprehensive. Within a short time, she was finding that in many cases it was difficult to tell whether someone was a guest or a volunteer without looking for the identifying badge. Many of them simply did not look like homeless people. They’d had the chance to wash, shave, get a haircut and get clean clothes and when she started talking to them, the question that kept coming up in her mind was “How did you get to be here?”
“The clichés about homelessness were exploded within hours,” she says. “having met and talked to some of the guests, it brought home the fact that it is easier to fall through the net into homelessness than I had realised, and a lot harder to climb back out than you think.”
How, for instance, had the young actor that she met become homeless a year ago? What was the story behind the ex-marine who has been coming to Crisis over Christmas for 25 years now? And how did a distinguished-looking Lebanese man come to be living “around Victoria” since August (the month the Israelis sent troops into Lebanon)?
While she was there, Sara saw very little aggression and because there was a no alcohol and no drugs rule at the Centre, there were few of the obvious triggers for unpleasantness. There were slightly bizarre moments such as the man who, at breakfast on the last morning, pointed out to the chef that his scrambled eggs were too hard; the guest who flipped from being polite and considerate one moment to being angry and abusive the next because servers had run out of the pudding of his choice; there were the volunteers who sat and made roll-up cigarettes (handed out one at a time); the guests who took handfuls of sachets of sugar to stuff in their pockets when they were being served with cups of tea, and the ones who complained because there were no chocolate biscuits left, or that the only cigarettes on offer were mentholated. These were side issues however, most of the guests were incredibly appreciative of what was being offered to them. Towards the end of the week, several asked to come along to the Volunteer’s de-brief sessions in order to thank them for their efforts. Sara will remember one young woman especially; whose thanks went to “everyone, particularly the hairdressers.” . . .
One of the many things that impressed her was the emphasis on dealing not just with people’s immediate, short term needs but on the future: trying to connect homeless people back into the system. Hence the literacy and computing facilities on offer and the assistance with finding housing and getting registered with a GP. “With so much of the work that we do these days,” reflects Sara,“you can’t see the benefits. There, you can see you are helping - both in the short term and in the longer term. It was incredibly satisfying.”
Sara will volunteer again this Christmas, and she has already spoken to friends who have said that they would like to come with her. This seems to be a characteristic of the volunteers: once one person starts going, they pull in others as well: whole families come along in some cases (the lower age limit is 16 – those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult).
The motivations of the volunteers are as varied as the day is long. While some have little more explanation that they “thought it would be a good thing to do”; others volunteer out of a religiously-motivated desire to do good; some used to guests; some volunteer because they want the company over what can be a lonely and difficult time of year even when you aren’t homeless, and some probably do it because it gives them an excuse to get away from their families.
As a result of her experiences, one of Sara’s resolutions for 2007 is not to ignore homeless people in the street. As long as she cannot see any evidence of alcohol or drug use, she has decided that she will stop to talk and will offer to buy them a cup of tea or some food.
Her first opportunity to put this resolution into practice came along soon enough. She checked that the café near the tube station outside which this person was begging was open and then went back to make her offer. “No thank you,” came back the polite reply, “But thank you for asking.” . . . As she turned to leave, he called after her: “I like your earrings”. Talk about getting something back from an unexpected quarter . . .
Useful website: www.crisis.org.uk
Mention the charity “Crisis”, and like many people, you probably have a vague image of volunteers ladling out soup to queues of homeless people for a few days over the Christmas period.
Guests staying at one of the seven centres run by Crisis Open Christmas 2006 had access to a lot more than soup. At each of the centres there were a range of services including: medical and dental care; opticians; hairdressing, chiropody; manicures; massage and other alternative therapies; clothing, a sewing and alteration service; laundry facilities; advice and support on anything from mental health and drug and alcohol dependency, to benefits, housing and legal matters; IT facilities and Internet access; and of course, the provision of three hot meals a day and snacks and hot drinks. Almost all of this bounty is provided by donation and staffed by volunteers.
And that is just what was there over the week. Prior to the centres opening on the 23rd December: all the buildings that had been lent to the charity had to be cleaned, wired, plumbed, furnished and decorated with Christmas decorations. In all, 6,500 volunteers were involved and over 1,000 guests were looked after. As the Crisis Volunteer Handbook says, it is a “Herculean effort”.
As I mentioned in the “Postcards” in the New Year, my sister is fresh from the volunteering experience. She found it an amazingly worthwhile thing to do. This is a short account of what she found, how she felt about it and what happened after.
**********************
My sister, Sara, helped out at the “Quiet Centre” This was located in an Old People’s Home which was due to be demolished. Along with the Women’s Centre, the location of this centre was confidential. Having worked before Christmas on the set-up process, she arrived on the 27th December feeling just a little apprehensive. Within a short time, she was finding that in many cases it was difficult to tell whether someone was a guest or a volunteer without looking for the identifying badge. Many of them simply did not look like homeless people. They’d had the chance to wash, shave, get a haircut and get clean clothes and when she started talking to them, the question that kept coming up in her mind was “How did you get to be here?”
“The clichés about homelessness were exploded within hours,” she says. “having met and talked to some of the guests, it brought home the fact that it is easier to fall through the net into homelessness than I had realised, and a lot harder to climb back out than you think.”
How, for instance, had the young actor that she met become homeless a year ago? What was the story behind the ex-marine who has been coming to Crisis over Christmas for 25 years now? And how did a distinguished-looking Lebanese man come to be living “around Victoria” since August (the month the Israelis sent troops into Lebanon)?
While she was there, Sara saw very little aggression and because there was a no alcohol and no drugs rule at the Centre, there were few of the obvious triggers for unpleasantness. There were slightly bizarre moments such as the man who, at breakfast on the last morning, pointed out to the chef that his scrambled eggs were too hard; the guest who flipped from being polite and considerate one moment to being angry and abusive the next because servers had run out of the pudding of his choice; there were the volunteers who sat and made roll-up cigarettes (handed out one at a time); the guests who took handfuls of sachets of sugar to stuff in their pockets when they were being served with cups of tea, and the ones who complained because there were no chocolate biscuits left, or that the only cigarettes on offer were mentholated. These were side issues however, most of the guests were incredibly appreciative of what was being offered to them. Towards the end of the week, several asked to come along to the Volunteer’s de-brief sessions in order to thank them for their efforts. Sara will remember one young woman especially; whose thanks went to “everyone, particularly the hairdressers.” . . .
One of the many things that impressed her was the emphasis on dealing not just with people’s immediate, short term needs but on the future: trying to connect homeless people back into the system. Hence the literacy and computing facilities on offer and the assistance with finding housing and getting registered with a GP. “With so much of the work that we do these days,” reflects Sara,“you can’t see the benefits. There, you can see you are helping - both in the short term and in the longer term. It was incredibly satisfying.”
Sara will volunteer again this Christmas, and she has already spoken to friends who have said that they would like to come with her. This seems to be a characteristic of the volunteers: once one person starts going, they pull in others as well: whole families come along in some cases (the lower age limit is 16 – those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult).
The motivations of the volunteers are as varied as the day is long. While some have little more explanation that they “thought it would be a good thing to do”; others volunteer out of a religiously-motivated desire to do good; some used to guests; some volunteer because they want the company over what can be a lonely and difficult time of year even when you aren’t homeless, and some probably do it because it gives them an excuse to get away from their families.
As a result of her experiences, one of Sara’s resolutions for 2007 is not to ignore homeless people in the street. As long as she cannot see any evidence of alcohol or drug use, she has decided that she will stop to talk and will offer to buy them a cup of tea or some food.
Her first opportunity to put this resolution into practice came along soon enough. She checked that the café near the tube station outside which this person was begging was open and then went back to make her offer. “No thank you,” came back the polite reply, “But thank you for asking.” . . . As she turned to leave, he called after her: “I like your earrings”. Talk about getting something back from an unexpected quarter . . .
Useful website: www.crisis.org.uk
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