Who Cares?
I have met and lived with a lot of homeless people now, males, females, young and old and all streetwise. We have all had to learn quickly to survive but I have yet to talk to a fellow resident who woke up one day and decided to be homeless. With some stories I could make you howl with laughter, others aren’t so funny. All are thought provoking.
Circumstances found us in Worthing to tackle our dilemma. We were lucky – to shelter us from the rain and wind an umbrella existed in the form of Worthing Churches Homeless Projects.
Try hard to imagine not knowing where your next meal was going to come from! The often taken for granted essentials in life, personal hygiene, a hot drink, a change of clothes, an encouraging word. They are hard to come by for the homeless.
I was lucky to get under the umbrella of Worthing Churches Homeless Projects with their three residential homes and a day centre with a stepping stone approach to getting us off the street and back in to society. Their trained staff with their overall willingness to treat each person as an individual, someone to listen, observe, guide and advise us. It doesn’t stop there, the project relies on, amongst a lot of other help, volunteers who give up their spare time to come and sit with us and more importantly talk to us. As mentioned we are a varied bunch of individuals from all walks of life and I am sure these volunteers gain as much as us from giving up a bit of their spare time.
I personally gained from one such volunteer in a way they probably didn’t even realise, it was simply a comment about how much I had changed in the two months I had been a resident, my appearance, my general attitude and more importantly my enthusiastic outlook towards the future.
It worked for me and it took place under a roof, they cared!