SOMEWHERE TO GO REPORT - 8TH NOVEMBER, 2018
The Somewhere to Go day centre continues to give support and help to those who are sleeping rough, along with those who are living in temporary accommodation, poor accommodation or are in danger of becoming homeless.
We provide food, warmth, showers and a change of clothing in addition to offering help with benefits queries and housing issues. We are only able to continue this work because of the amazing support that the people of Weston-super-Mare give us, both in financial terms and in other kinds of useful donations. The churches in the town and surrounding areas have been really generous and on behalf of everyone who attends the day centre, I would like to offer our thanks to all who make the decision to support people who are so often marginalized.
The number of people who find themselves sleeping rough has increased significantly in the last couple of years and this increase is reflected in the number of rough sleepers who attend the day centre. Our daily figures for attendance are regularly in the region of 60 and last week 68 people attended on one of the days that we opened.
We welcome representatives from a number of organizations to spend time at the day centre working with those who attend. I would like to express my thanks to the NSCP for funding two nurses who provide much needed medical help for our members. I would like to thank the YMCA for providing their outreach worker and St. Mungos, Bristol, for also providing outreach workers who specialize in working with rough sleepers. Support Alliance provides workers who can engage in longer term one-to-one support and Addaction supports those with addiction problems. The Samaritans attend on a regular basis and the Carlton Centre offer training, so far in IT which is essential these days as Universal Credit applications can only be done on line. Since the early days of Stg a weekly drop in was provided by the CAB, offering benefits advice and legal advice to our members. This month, this service had to be withdrawn but we hope that money will be found to reinstate it as it is desperately missed.
At the present time, we are waiting for the Night Assessment Centre to open here in the Stg building. This is hopefully going to happen in the next week and will be a wonderful support for those who have nowhere to live.
Of course, we always have specific needs and would like to make a brief appeal for sleeping bags, which we need in the winter months.We are also looking for volunteer cooks/kitchen workers and would love to hear from anyone who would be interested to join our team.
Joan Eales - Day Centre Manager
01934 64188
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