As a community we have noticed an increase in the numbers of people rough sleeping on the streets of our city and we feel moved to do what we can to care for these people in need in our community.
We are running a project with the vision of walking someone who sleeps rough on the streets of Chichester, through the stages of changing their lives to a place of independence. Our project will be addressing the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the homeless and rough sleeping community within our city.
We will be providing hot meals four times a week at the Chichester Family Centre, Orchard Street and St Pancras Church in the Town Centre. Alongside this there will be a befriending/mentoring service that is run by our volunteers to ensure the people accessing our services have people walking alongside them in their journey.
We will also have other services represented at the meals for people to access, specialists who can advise on finance, budgeting, housing applications etc.
What we'll deliver:
- Providing hot meals, to feed the homeless and meet their basic needs; providing them with clothing and warmth.
- Training volunteers to befriend homeless community members and to walk them through each of the stages mentioned above
- Ensure services and charities who help the homeless are at the meals to ensure access is available to those in need
- Run a pilot emergency night shelter during the winter months of 2018/19 with a view to run it every year thereafter.
- Employ an outreach worker to connect those who sleep rough with the services available within the HEART project.
Why it's a great idea:
When someone is in the position of being homeless or vulnerably housed, the thought of getting from that place to being independently and securely housed can be very daunting.
The Project has the vision of engaging with those on the fringes of our society, supporting them to make lasting positive changes in their lives from a place where they feel empowered and able to sustain these changes. Having a support network can make all the difference to whether these changes are maintained or become just a temporary measure.
The hope is that the project will lead to transformation of both individual lives but also of the homeless community and the community spaces within our city.
Steps to get it done:
- Provide 4 Hot meals per week for the homeless
- Employ an outreach worker for 14 hours a week
- Train Volunteers and Run a befriending/mentoring scheme for members of the homeless community
- Run a Pilot Emergency Night Shelter over the winter
- Create promotional and recruitment video
In order to do this we need your help! By supporting HEART you will be playing your part in changing the lives of people in the homeless community in Chichester and enabling a greater change in our city that we wouldn't have the ability to do by ourselves.
This Crowdfunding campaign is raising the funds to run the administration of the project for the next 3 months, create a logo and brand for the project, create a promotional video to recruit volunteer and, pay for the safety checks and training for our first set of volunteers.
We are applying for further grants and pursuing additional avenues of securing funds for the project as it moves forward and continues beyond this initial period.
This is a project by Revelation Community. Revelation Community Ltd is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England & Wales, no: 07381412 and a Registered charity no: 1138551.
