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From September Routes to Roots will be able to offer several important new outreach services to its clients in Poole through its regular drop-ins at Skinner Street URC.
From the 7th September, Poole Addictions Community Team (PACT) will be offering a service on a fortnightly basis at the Monday afternoon drop-in. PACT will be providing information on Blood Borne Viruses and offering testing, vaccinations and delivering a confidential Harm Minimisation service i.e. needle exchange and advice. PACT hopes to include visits from their specialist alcohol nurses in the near future. PACT is keen to support easier access into services for clients.
From 17th September Poole Citizens Advice will be attending R2R Thursday afternoon drop-ins to engage with clients to inform them about the wide range of areas in which CAB may be able to help, such as benefit applications, housing, debt, family matters. Clients who need specific advice and help will be able to make an appointment to see a CAB Adviser in the R2R office.
The charity is also working together with Healthwatch Dorset, the local consumer champion for health and care, to improve health (particularly emergency) provision for homeless people, including free NHS check-ups through the Tooth Bus mobile dental service. Their first visit is set for Monday 9 November during the drop-in and throughout the afternoon.
Gabi Sanger-Stevens, responsible for management services, comments: “We know our clients experience problems getting access to GP surgeries, making health appointments, contacting dentists etc. without a phone or easy access to the internet. Many GPs won’t accept bookings face to face. So, we have found that people have had to wait for the Routes to Roots’ office to open so they can use our phone – by which time that day’s appointments are all booked up. It is also hard for someone who is homeless to build up the courage to go into a busy GP surgery, as they feel as if they are being judged: then to be sent away and told to make an appointment by phone can be very upsetting.
“We also know that engaging with services such as the CAB and PACT in their offices can be daunting – it is not easy to keep appointments when you have a chaotic life of rough sleeping or making ends meet. We really appreciate the support of these organisations in bringing these vital services to our clients at a place where they feel safe and can easily make use of them. It will positively affect their general wellbeing as well as contributing to their ability to move back into society.”
Thanks to the support of a national Christian social enterprise, Routes to Roots is now able to offer supported accommodation to three of Poole’s rough sleepers. Green Pastures has bought a maisonette, which will house three Routes to Roots’ clients and Routes to Roots is now in the process of repairs, redecoration and furnishing to enable them to move in.
The three clients will each have their own bedroom and share bathroom, kitchen and living space. Routes to Roots will work closely with them to support them as they take this first step back into society. The charity is conscious that, in order to maintain their accommodation once housed, many people require significant support if they are not to fall back into homelessness because they are unable to cope alone with paying their rent and bills, making benefits claims and job applications or are still struggling with alcohol or drug addictions.
Routes to Roots’ numbers on homelessness are broadly in line with national statistics and housing shortages for its client group are particularly severe in Poole. Sadly, many of those who are on the streets are long-term rough sleepers or people who recycle into homelessness. Although the official Poole street count in November 2014 found just seven rough sleepers in the town, Routes to Roots has records on 17 people who were either rough sleeping or sofa surfing at that time – and they were only the people who came to the charity for help.
This new venture has already won support in the community with Highworth Insurance employees undertaking a wide range of fundraising activities to be able to provide some of the white goods needed for the kitchen. A team from the Footprints Life Works Project and a local professional builder have agreed to help with the renovations at minimal cost and the charity is approaching other local groups for volunteer help and donations in cash and kind.
Revd. Pat Southgate, Routes to Roots Chairman, says: “For Routes to Roots this is, of course, pastures new and we go into it with our eyes open and well aware of the challenges ahead. Compared to the stone cold concrete of a town centre car park, where they are most likely to currently reside, this accommodation is a major step forward. We have been assured by Green Pastures that they intend that this property will be the first of many they are willing to obtain for us and we are grateful to them for their faith in us and commitment to the rough sleepers of Poole”.
Despite having nearly 700 bed spaces throughout the UK this is Green Pastures’ very first partnership in the region and one of only a handful on the South Coast where the need is so great.
“Meeting the team at Routes to Roots was an amazing time”’ says Pastor Pete Cunningham, Director of Green Pastures. “Sitting round a table and discussing the needs of the homeless in the area with such an enthusiastic group, who were ready to launch out in the deep to meet the needs of those that are vulnerable. It was a truly inspiring afternoon. Now we have succeeded in purchasing the first of what I hope will be many homes to begin to end homelessness in Poole. I am praying that the blessing of God that makes rich and adds no sorrow will be their portion.”
Routes to Roots has been awarded a £15,000 grant from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales to fund the costs of volunteer training and a Client Assessment and Outcome Monitoring Database. The charity already keeps paper-based client records of all those attending its drop-ins and participating in the activities it offers, in order to monitor and evaluate its services. This grant will greatly strengthen its effectiveness in working with homeless and vulnerably housed people in Poole and in developing and enhancing the skills of its volunteer base.
In addition to grant funding the charity is able to take advantage of non-financial support through the Foundation’s Enhance Programme – such as mentoring, consultancy and technical support – provided by a range of partners including Lloyds Banking Group.
You may have read in our Summer Newsletter that we are well on the way to being able to offer supported housing to some of Poole’s rough sleepers. This is thanks to the support of a national Christian social enterprise, Green Pastures, who are buying a maisonette for us, which will house three of Poole’s homeless community.
Revd. Pat Southgate, Routes to Roots Chairman, says: “For Routes to Roots this is, of course, pastures new and we go into it with our eyes open and well aware of the challenges ahead. Compared to the stone cold concrete of a town centre car park, where they are most likely to currently reside, this accommodation is a major step forward. We have been assured by Green Pastures that they intend that this property will be the first of many they are willing to obtain for us and we are grateful to them for their faith in us and commitment to the rough sleepers of Poole”.
Green Pastures asks us to demonstrate the support that the community has for this venture by just ten individuals or groups becoming Good Samaritans for Routes to Roots. This involves committing to a donation of just £4.50 per month to Green Pastures to enable them to continue their good work. Can you do this for us?
Please sign up below:
Further information on Green Pastures: http://greenpastures.net/
Thursday 9 July, 5.30pm at Skinner Street URC, Poole
All welcome
REPORTS
2015 Old R2R final accounts (unaudited)
Volunteers are needed to help with FUNdraising events. There are lots of opportunities for raising money towards our work with FUN events that can be enjoyed by all. Last year we held a successful wine tasting quiz night. Other supporters have organised auctions, concerts, quizzes, cake sales and raffles. We are looking for energetic people who enjoy a bit of a laugh and are willing to get stuck in with practical fundraising events and with encouraging others to fund raise for us.
Ideas – dramatic, quirky, elaborate, simple: we’ll consider all suggestions.
We already have organisations that are willing to support us with events, we just need you to make up the FUN team to make it happen. There will be some meetings to get things organised and then participation in the actual events.
Ask the office for an application form or download from the volunteers page on the website.
Gabi of Routes to Roots is celebrating after receiving £3,000 to provide supplies and help feed Poole’s rough sleepers. The donation was proudly awarded by Spectrum Housing Group’s Three Counties Community Forum who recognise charities and local organisations who work within the local community. The application was made to support Routes to Roots’ work with The Fisherman’s Café in Poole Quay, helping to ensure rough sleepers start their day with a hot meal.
Pat Adams, Chair of the Three Counties Community Forum, said; “The Forum receive many applications throughout the year but this particular one caught our attention as Routes to Roots does such worthwhile work within our community. The thought that there are still rough sleepers, cold and hungry, on our streets in Poole is heart-breaking and Spectrum were certainly quick to try and help Routes to Roots where we can.”
Fiona and Roger generously contacted us at Easter with thirty Easter Eggs for the guys. What a thoughtful gesture.
The winter months can be very difficult for those on the streets. There are provisions for overnight accommodation if severe weather conditions come into force but this doesn’t cover those periods of relentless rain and low temperatures that are not quite low enough to trigger the emergency provision. Routes to Roots aims to assist rough sleepers to at least start their day with some hot food. In 2013-14 our Big Breakfast for rough sleepers ran for 3 weeks less than in 2012-13 but the number of individuals assisted rose to 40, the average number of rough sleepers per week increased by 33% and the number of breakfasts claimed rose by 38%. Hence the continuance of our appeal to offer rough sleepers a good hot start to their day in the cold. For the fifth year, The Fisherman Café on Poole Quay is providing the guys and girls who are sleeping rough with a cooked breakfast during the winter months. This costs £3.50 per breakfast. If R2R are to continue this level of support, we need to raise £2,718 (inclusive of all overheads) and are delighted that people continue to show their support for this vital service.
Stats
December 2014 (5 weeks from 29th Nov): average 8 clients/wk; 20 individuals assisted; 95 breakfasts claimed
January 2015 (3 weeks to 22nd Jan): average 14 clients/wk; 25 individuals assisted; 107 breakfasts claimed
St Dunstan’s Church Youth Club presented R2R Trustee Gabi with a cheque for £500 at our Monday Afternoon Drop-In. They raised the money in a sponsored sleep-out in November. Joining the youngsters were club leader Chris Trent and church member Michael Tomlinson, prospective Conservative MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole.
