Nowhere to call home, and nobody to speak to; it’s a position nobody wants to be in. Fortunately Gloucester City Mission recently opened to help Gloucestershire’s most vulnerable.
A charity homeless shelter opened last Friday which will be open for those in need of a place to stay from 8pm every night until the end of March.
The shelter based at the George Whitfield Centre on Great Western Road is run by 50 volunteers, and already 5 people have been re-housed.
Guaranteed a decision for the shelter’s opening by the 7th December last year from Gloucester City Council, Dave Kinghorn, manager of Gloucester City Mission had asked for planning permission for the shelter to run from December to March but its only been up and running since last week.
He says that despite the delay, already he can see how much of a difference they have made, and, he is hopeful for even more:
“Since opening on Friday we had 12 on the first night, 11 Saturday and Sunday, 13 on Monday and 8 last night. We haven’t even been open a week and already 5 people have been re-housed into supported or more appropriate longer-term accommodation and straight away that’s a difference there.”
Dave Kinghorn tells us how the last week has been:
The shelter also provides a valid address for people applying for benefits as well as running its own health clinic through the day for those who need a health check or if they are in a critical condition.
This shelter isn’t only for the homeless, as Dave added: “we help the homeless but also the vulnerable”. Its for those who are ‘feeling lonely and wanted a chat with one of our volunteers’.
For more information, go to: http://www.gloscitymission.org.uk/the-story-so-far/
