Many thanks to the Dorset Community Foundation who have awarded R2R a grant from the Salisbury Diocesan Social Welfare Fund: Round 1 January 2016 of £800. This will go towards the hot breakfast that we provide for verified rough sleepers in Poole through the Fisherman’s Cafe on Poole Quay. This is a very important service during the winter months, allowing the guys a few precious minutes in the warmth and hospitality of such a welcoming cafe.
http://www.dorsetcommunityfoundation.org
Our celebration on Homeless Sunday was a great success with a good attendance of generous people who donated £351.85 at the end of the service. Pastor Pete (in flat cap) spoke about the work being done to house the homeless which he described as “some of the most important, if not most important, work being done in the nation today.” Other speakers spoke from their own experiences of how easy it is to become homeless and how anyone can become homeless. The point was also very strongly made that local authorities cannot be relied on to help. Without organisations such as Green Pastures and now Routes to Roots, people would be left under Southport Pier or frozen into their sleeping bags in Poole Park.
Many thanks to Madeleine who served coffee and cookies courtesy of Starbucks on Poole High Street, to Pete and Lisa from the Vineyard who led the hymn singing and to Skinner Street URC who provide office and drop-in space and without whom R2R would be homeless.
Christmas Day lunch saw 21 homeless and vulnerably housed people come along to enjoy a Christmas meal and quiz. They also received presents and other goodies donated by local churches, schools and individual well-wishers – a real ’12 Days of Christmas’ round of gifts though possibly more useful!
* Sarah and Joe of Kingsbere Kitchen again provided a burger and hot dog lunch for the guys on Xmas Eve.
* Waitrose donated a turkey for Christmas Day lunch.
* Asda customers filled a shopping cart with food and goodies.
* Poole Contact Centre gave us shoeboxes.
* Skinner Street URC congregation and neighbours brought in parcels and presents.
* Emmanuel Middle School Verwood Yr 7 sent us sleeping bags, gifts and packed bags.
* Event Alchemy brought in filled rucksacks and biscuits.
* Two Saints donated useful items for the ladies.
* Upton Methodists donated food and hats.
* The Rucksack project gave us filled rucksacks.
* St Mary’s Catholic Church donated clothes.
* St John’s, Ashley Road gave toiletries.
The Trustees of Routes to Roots are delighted to invite you to a service of Celebration and Thanksgiving for the work being carried out in Poole to alleviate the problems facing Homeless people in our town. We will be particularly celebrating the fact that at the end of the year we were able to take 3 vulnerable individuals off the streets and offer them supported accommodation in our very own ‘Amos House’. We are excited that Pastor Pete, founder of the charity Green Pastures which made this possible, will be joining us as our guest speaker. Following the service there will be displays, videos and refreshments to enjoy. Trustees, volunteers and some of our homeless friends will all be there. PLEASE come and MEET us and PRAY with us that TOGETHER we will hear more about what GOD is calling us to do here in POOLE.
Sunday 24 January 2016, 3.00pm-5.00pm
United Reformed Church, Skinner St., Poole BH15 1RQ
This Christmas we say a fond farewell to Eddie and Sue who will be cooking Christmas Day lunch for the final time this year and ‘retiring’ from team leading and volunteering after many years of service. Thank you for all their support and kindness to our clients over the years. At this season of goodwill we also say thank you to Waitrose who donated a turkey for Christmas Day lunch, Waitrose customers who rewarded our carol singing efforts with over £150, Asda customers who filled a shopping cart with food, Poole Contact Centre for shoeboxes, and Skinner Street URC congregation and neighbours for parcels and presents for the guys.
Sue and Eddie at work on a summer BBQ for the guys
Poole Estate and Letting Agents, Carter Shaw have come up with a great idea to help the homeless. They have begun a campaign to collect old and unwanted keys to help the homeless in Poole. They have already had a good response and are hoping to roll this out as a continued campaign rather than just a Christmas idea. They have now contacted Routes to Roots to see what support they can give us. Following the launch of the campaign, they had people wanting to make cash donations, so we have sent along a collection box.
Carter Shaw, 446 Ashley Road
Routes to Roots’ Trustees, volunteers and clients were delighted to welcome the Ven. Karen Gorham, Bishop Designate of Sherborne, at their drop-in on Thursday. Karen came to Poole specifically to meet them on the very day her appointment was announced by Number 10. This was a tremendous honour.
At the drop-in, among others, she met Steve, who spent five years sleeping on the streets before being helped into living independently by the charity – he has now lived in his own home for three years. She also met Eddie and Susan, volunteers who have cooked Christmas lunch for the clients every year for the past eight years.
Karen was also taken to Amos House, the charity’s new supported accommodation for three rough sleepers. She blessed the house, which will have its first occupants in a matter of days as final paperwork is completed.
Revd. Pat Southgate, chairman of Routes to Roots, said: “This was a wonderful day for all of us and we were really happy to be able to keep our drop-in open all afternoon for the clients. Before she left, Karen gave me an envelope, which I was delighted to find contained her completed Routes to Roots’ membership form and fee. She has also agreed to become a Patron. We look forward to seeing more of her as she settles into her new responsibilities.”
Karen’s consecration will take place on 24 February 2016 at Westminster Abbey before she joins the Diocese formally in March.
St Dunstan’s Church Youth Club members spent the night of Friday 20 November enduring a little of what our rough sleepers have to face every night. Youth worker Chris Trent (pictured left below) with Michael Tomlinson MP says: “We survived albeit a bit cold. Slept well and woke late with parents waking us up.” R2R Trustee Gabi joined them to talk about the work of Routes to Roots and share some of the guys’ stories. She says: “The young people were great, asking very sensible questions about what it was like to sleep out and how come people ended up in this situation. They were keen to hear the personal stories. It was a good evening, which the group hopes to promote to other churches and schools to get more people involved next year.”
Many thanks to Quaker Homeless Action for a grant of £3000, which will be spent on the renovation work at Amos House, our supported accommodation for three of Poole’s rough sleepers.
We still need to raise money for the ongoing costs of this housing. Want to help us win funding this Christmas? Starbucks has nominated us to make some noise and win a #RedCupGrant. Tweet @R2R_Poole with #RedCupCheer2015 up until Dec 6th and make some noise!
Please help us win funds by sharing our project on Facebook/other: #RedCupCheer.
https://www.neighbourly.com/project/5645e84e8f60fd0f204676fb/feed/
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.”
