BOOK HERE
Dear Friend, We would like to invite you to an evening of information sharing and exploration for a proposed set up of Street Angels in Barrow. This is an exciting new initiative; many similar projects happen across Cumbria with great results working in partnership to develop stronger community cohesion/resilience. Over the last few months, there have been a number of conversations that have taken place around the idea of setting up Street Angels in Barrow. These conversations have taken place with the, Police Superintendent Rob O’ Connor, Rev Sophie Carnaby (Police Chaplain), church leaders, Paul Blakey MBE (founder of Street Angels) and myself. We would like to welcome you to join in as we continue these conversations, and reflect about this opportunity. Why not come along to find out more about Street Angels, add to the conversation and get involved? Thursday 4th May, 7pm at Barrow Police Station, Andrews Way, Barrow in Furness. If you plan to attend you MUST register through this link Street Angels are safe people who patrol a community hub (typically town and city centres) on busy nights, generally Friday and Saturday 9pm - 3am. Several Street Angels projects also provide a safe place drop-in for people who are or may become vulnerable. There are several projects using the Street Angels model with different names - e.g. Town Pastors, Street Chaplains, Street Lights, etc. There are 130 projects within the CNI Network [www.cninetwork.org] family, working on the streets, in clubs, at festivals, etc. Street Angels is an exciting ministry. It shows that the church cares about the community it serves and about the problems associated with the night-time economy as so many of our town and city centres change character on weekend nights. Street Angels is about offering safe people and a safe place within this culture. We want the town of Barrow to continue to have a thriving night-time economy and for people to enjoy their night out, but also to stay safe and be responsible. Therefore, we would want to support the police and businesses in the town at peak times each month to show that the church cares about its community. The evening will be hosted by Rev Sophie Carnaby & myself but will also include various people presenting;
Volunteers can be of any faith or none, but must aspire to our core values of selflessness, being non-judgemental, honesty, integrity, professionalism, excellence, collaboration and partnership. This project can only happen if its supported by a number of churches/individuals who would like to invest their time and energy to support this project. If you’re interested in attending, please register your attendance with the above link. We look forward to welcoming you to our information & exploring together evening. Yours Sincerely, Rev Jonny Gios ( Hope Community) Rev Sophie Carnaby (Police Chaplain) Superintendent Rob O’ Connor
Around 18 months ago Jean was praying about CNI Network and got the word 'America'! America seemed like a long way off and a large place but we believed that if God was indeed saying America then the way would open.
We shared this word with several people and received very negative feedback. One person, who had spent time in the USA working with Christian ministries, told us that American churches didn't like initiatives from overseas and that everything has to be formulated in a certain way. Several people said that CNI Network and its family of projects would never work in America - however we believed that God had given us the word 'America'! A few months later our friend Ricky Leonard was visiting the UK and stayed with us. One of the first things he said was that his wife Mary and himself were keen to look at starting Street Angels in Wilmington, North Carolina. We made plans to visit in April 2017 and set to saving up the money for the air-fare. Ricky and Mary shared the vision of Street Angels with churches in the area, and, even though it was Easter and Spring Break, several churches were excited and invited Paul to speak at church services and events. The first meeting was at Myrtle Grove Presbyterian Church where Paul preached at the Palm Sunday service . The theme for the talk, based on the way Jesus used a donkey as the mode of transport into Jerusalem, was 'the ordinary and everyday achieves the profound and world-changing' (click here for the LiveStream of the service) As it was Spring Break people from around the USA were visiting for the weekend and so the story of Street Angels will be shared nationwide. On Sunday night Paul spoke at a gathering of local Christians and church leaders in Ricky's office. Again the story of crime reduced and communities changed was an inspiration to those gathered who saw the need for the same in local and national USA communities. Thirty people turned up on Monday night at Myrtle Grove for a Q and A session with Paul and Jean on how to set up a Street and Festival Angels project for Wrightsville Beach, downtown Wilmington and Carolina Beach. On Tuesday we took a road trip to the neighbouring state of South Carolina and Myrtle Beach - a popular resort in the summer with thousands of tourists and similar issues to some of the resorts in the UK and Europe. We knocked on the doors of 7 churches along the coast road - told the story, answered questions and left web site details. All those we spoke to saw the need and that Street Angels could be the response from the church to that need. By Wednesday we were at Carolina Coast Vineyard Church where the story of our work in the UK was met with enthusiasm and people seeing the potential for summer around the beach and boardwalk. The BBC Newsnight video of the Street Angels in Magaluf was well received and showed how Street Angels would work in a resort setting. The church had a mural of flip-flops in the foyer with the tagline 'Never Walk Alone' - a fitting image for the way our teams often walk with people in time of need! On Thursday Paul shared at the FGBMFI dinner with around forty people from across the region. With a mix of humour and stories from the streets, clubs and festivals Paul was able to pray for people following the talk who wanted to engage better with local communities. Saturday morning saw Paul speak at Wilmington Healing Center. At this gathering was a former police officer who runs a Christian police group and has contact with the leaders of the police. It was also great to hear from other ministries who are working on the streets of Wilmington especially around the homeless problem. On Easter Sunday Paul spoke at Faith Life Fellowship in Wilmington. It was great to meet a couple from Louisiana who were visiting family and hear how they were now inspired to take our story to their home church. Monday we met with Pastor Brian from Rock Church. Brian loved the heart, simplicity and vision of our work and could see how it would work in Wilmington. We then met Ron who has connections with various Christian TV stations across the USA and filmed a video with Paul to share with 2 of the biggest global Christian TV shows. On Monday evening Paul spoke at One Christian Network of Wilmington - a network of many of the Christian based organisations at work in the region. Different ministries offered support to Street/Club/Festival Angels in terms of training and volunteers. It was great to hear of the amount of work that exists including feeding the homeless, supporting those going through divorce, setting up a Cardboard Church on the street and encouraging lawyers to be philanthropists! The final talk was an interview on Life 90.5FM radio - this will be broadcast as part of an hour long programme but also as a promotion of CNI Network and the new projects about to launch. God opened many doors! It is exciting to see how work in the UK has inspired Christians across the pond to think about similar projects. This visit was the first of many - we are already planning a road trip to other states and if the doors open to features on Christian TV shows! If you would like to invest in this expansion in the USA and be part of the journey please use the PayPal button below or visit www.cninetwork.org/donate . You can also purchase the Street Angels book to read more. Thanks to all we met, those who invited us to visit and speak, those who invested into our work financially, those considering volunteering and those who are sharing our story.
Source
VOLUNTEERS are needed to train as “street angels” in Henley. The town council is to launch a scheme where volunteers help protect people on nights out who are vulnerable or at risk due to excessive drinking. Teams will go out in the town centre from 9pm to 3am to tackle minor incidents, enabling police officers to deal with more serious ones. They will operate on the busiest nights of the year, such as the Friday and Saturday during Henley Royal Regatta and the Henley Festival. Twelve people are set to be trained initially. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old, fairly fit and good at engaging with people. A First Aid certificate would be useful. Applicants require two references and will be invited to a short interview. Those who are successful will be trained and a review carried out after three months. For an application form, email Councillor Lorraine Hillier at [email protected] or Councillor David Eggleton at [email protected] Source
The campaign to place 10 or more publicly accessible defibrillators around Windsor Town Centre has already achieved almost half its objective. A partnership made up of Windsor Lions, Windsor Rotary, Windsor Street Angels and Windsor Town Centre Manager Paul Roach was launched in January to fund the life saving machines. If someone suffers a sudden cardiac arrest statistics published by the Ambulance Service have shown that where a defibrillator is used promptly there is a significant - up to 70% - increase in an individual's chance of survival. Already enough funds have been pledged or donations made to provide at least four in the centre of Windsor. Sites for these are currently being discussed but the first site has been agreed - on the Wall of Minton Place at the corner of William Street and it is hoped it can be unveiled by the end of April. Pledges have also been received to fund more defibrillators from Windsor Lions Club, The Shanly Foundation and a through private donation from the late Harry Purchase's estate to honour his memory and his 40 plus years of dedicated work with Windsor Lions. The most appropriate sites are currently being evaluated. Various options are still being explored to increase the donors and donations - a letter has been sent to businesses and talks are being held with other Windsor retailers. Cash pledges towards the cost have also been made via The Lions Club of Windsor Website (www.windsorlions.co.uk) where donations can be made via Just Giving. Windsor Rotary Club members will be promoting and collecting funds for the partnership at their upcoming Stroke Awareness Day on April 22 in Windsor Royal Shopping Centre. One of the organisations CNI Network helped to set up is #FaithAndPoliceTogether - we work alongside the Christian Police Association. I asked Lee, the National Director, to write some thoughts around the events of yesterday:
The Police Service is in mourning today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of our fallen colleague PC Keith Palmer. We pray for all those killed or injured in the terrorist attack in Westminster on Wednesday 22nd March 2017. Metropolitan Police officers and staff stood together to protect our communities, without thought to their own safety. Together with our emergencies services colleagues, members of Parliament and the public, they all showed that the darkness of terrorism will not overcome. We Stand Together with our Police colleagues and all our communities across the UK and across the world. Please pray for the Police who protect our communities 24/7. Pray for their families who see their loved ones going out each day to do a difficult and dangerous role in support of protecting all of us. Pray that our communities will continue stand together and ensure that our joint values in the care and compassion for each other in this country will never be overcome by hate. Source
POLICE joined forces with volunteers and groups like the Street Angels and York Rescue Boat, in a bid to reassure tourists and shopkeepers in York at the beginning of summer. Police teams in the centre of York were on duty as part of Operation Erase - which targets drink fuelled anti social behaviour - and Operation Target - which tries to identify and help vulnerable people in the community. On Saturday that saw the police’s evening briefing joined by Special Constables, Street Angels volunteers, the York Rescue Boat crew, and York BID’s Street Rangers. With the warmer months approaching and the city’s tourist trade about to pick up at the same time as larger groups like hen and stag parties start heading to York on weekends, police said they wanted to start the season proactively. City centre inspector Andy Godfrey said: “We decided we wanted to do something early on in the season to show we were supporting the licensees. “It’s not about spoiling people’s fun, it’s about supporting the licensees and the other organisations who are involved - like the Street Angels and the York Rescue Boat.” With highly visible patrols on city centre streets through the day and into the night, he and the city centre’s Sergeant Nick Plumb said they hoped that if police officers were seen engaging with people earlier in the day, they could head off trouble or disruption later on. A dispersal order was also put in place for the weekend, meaning police could have compelled anyone causing trouble to leave the city centre. PC Joby Lewis, who briefed police and the other agencies on Saturday, said the day had passed extremely quietly and safely. Very little action had to be taken by police to arrest people or put a stop to anti social behaviour or disruption, he said. “To us that’s a massive success because it means everybody who went out had a safe night. They could go out and enjoy themselves and not be hassled by us, or bothered by anyone else. Pc Lewis added: “If we can report that every weekend, that’s great.” Early on Saturday morning, police had joined the Salvation Army for a city centre walkabout, to look out for vulnerable rough sleepers. From about 10pm Street Angels were on duty to look after partygoers in St Helen’s Square, and the York Rescue Boat was on patrol. This weekend also saw students from the University of York’s Nightsafe join the operation. Normally only at work on student club nights, the volunteers look out for clubbers who are drunk and vulnerable, giving out water and making sure they can get home safely, find their friends, or if necessary get first aid or medical help. Source
A group of volunteers have been meeting homeless people to give them shelter in one of the town’s churches. The Hope Street Angels have been operating for many years now in the town centre on a Saturday night to help out revellers who have had too much to drink, need a taxi or are otherwise in need. They work with the pubs, council and police. Now the angels have broadened their work to go out on a Friday night too to help homeless people. They find people sleeping rough and direct them to a night shelter run by the town’s churches. The churches take it in turns to open their doors for the weekend to give accommodation to men who need it. Rev Marion Tugwood, from Macclesfield United Reformed Church, said: “We give the men a meal, bed and advice over three nights. “The Street Angels help people on Saturday nights but now they are out on a Friday doing a different job. They go on a walkabout to find people sleeping rough and direct them to the night shelter. “It’s really good for us as a church to be able to open our doors. You see how easy it is for people to end up on the streets. “Everyone has a story, it’s shocking how people end up where they do. “I’ve never seen homelessness so bad in Macclesfield. It gets worse every year.” MP David Rutley went out with the Hope Street Angels on a walkabout to see the work that they do. He spent time in the shelter to learn more about the work that is being done to support some of the most vulnerable people in the community. He said: “The Street Angels continue to do great work in taking care of vulnerable people in Macclesfield town centre late at night. I am very grateful that they are now also spending time on Friday evenings to help homeless people make use of the services of the WHAM night shelter, which is doing invaluable work in supporting homeless people during the colder winter months. “I would like to thank all of the volunteers for their dedicated service and commitment to the community. I hope that more local residents will be willing to join them in the future.” Winter Hope Accommodation in Macclesfield (WHAM) runs from November to March. Contact Pip Mosscrop about Hope Street Angels at pip [email protected]. This is the invite for our community connection networking group on Thursday 23rd at 10am, and the Drybar party night the 27th March at 6.30pm The venue for both is Skyfall, 42 Church Road, Hove, Brighton. More information on Kennedy Street is here. Source MORE people are being urged to join the Ryedale Street Angels to help vulnerable people on the streets of Malton and Norton each weekend. A recent recruitment day attracted a number of interested volunteers, however about 16 are needed to ensure regular patrols each Friday and Saturday night. Ruth Hardy, joint co-ordinator of Ryedale Street Angels, said: “We would love to get more people involved so we can introduce more patrols. “At typical evening involves meeting at 10pm for a cup of tea before patrolling Norton and then back to Malton picking up empty bottles and cans along the way.” Ryedale Street Angels was set up in 2013 to help people in vulnerable situations on Friday and Saturday nights. Volunteers are equipped with bottled water and even flip flops to help people struggling to get home after a night out drinking. They also step in to help people sober up so they can get home safely or help diffuse situations before it gets out of hand.” Ruth said: “On average we give out between 12 and 15 bottles of water each night and half a dozen pairs of flip flops. “They tend to be young people who have had too much to drink and we also help them get home safely by getting them a taxi. We also monitor situations and call the police where necessary, which has helped defuse situations. “We are eager to hear from people who would like to join us. Not only do we need people to come out on patrol with us, we do need other roles, such as people to knit handwarmers/gloves and hats for us to hand out to people who are vulnerable while out.” PC Jane Jones, of Malton Police, who helped set up Street Angels, said: “We have a couple of police volunteers now trained to monitor the CCTV for the Street Angels on a Saturday which is working really well. Ruth and fellow c-ordinator Marilyn Sandall are on a recruitment campaign. “They are going to link in with Scarborough Street Angels and go out on patrol with them one night.” For details, phone Ruth on 01653 694866. Pictured outside St Michaels Church, Malton, are Ryedale Street Angels Debbie Abbey, Debbie Bennett, Ruth hardy and Marilyn Sandall. They were taking part in a âcome and meet the Ryedale Street Angelsâ event at the church. Picture David Harrison
Source This was one of the shortest books we have looked at, but it generated a lot of discussion. It described the very practical work of the volunteers who went out at night to offer support and love to any who were vulnerable due to alcohol, separation from friends, unsuitable footwear, etc. We all felt that the work was greatly valuable and that the street angels were trying to carry on with the caring work of Jesus in a brave and committed way. After a brief history of the group in Halifax, there were many reports of the ideas being taken up and successfully carried out across the country. Several group members did not read all the short reports as they were very repetitive. It seemed that provision of a "safe place", where people could wait safely for taxis & lost friends, was crucial. We also noted the relationships Angels were able to build up with club doormen as being valuable. Ann stressed the importance of the non-judgemental attitude of the Angels and of the ease with which they struck up conversations. We also noted the very many different agencies that cooperated; police, local authority etc. Ken remarked that, although initially people expressed fear, they dealt with this by getting involved and not staying away and finding that the fears proved largely groundless. It seemed that the angels succeeded in making their town centres safer and calmer. Some of us were mildly uncomfortable with the naivety of the theology expressed by some reports, particularly in respect of the ability of prayer to help find lost gloves, but prayer was obviously supportive of the work and the people involved in it. We finished our session in responding to the book's challenge by thinking about the outreach we should be making in Aylesbury and our own communities. Frankie Fisher To purchase the book click here. Source
Members of the Bedfordshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) took to the streets with the town’s Street Angels on a cold Saturday night, to learn more about their role. The volunteer group patrol the streets at the weekend between 10pm and 3am, to provide unconditional, non-judgemental support, and to offer help to those who find themselves vulnerable to crime or distress after a night on the town. OPCC team members Katie Beaumont and Sam Denness saw first-hand the work of the Bedford Street Angels when they joined them on patrol. Sam said: “To be honest, prior to spending time with the Street Angels, we had little idea of exactly how far they’re prepared to go to help all those who go out in Bedford. “We spent just one night with this fantastic group of people who are there week-in, week-out, and were amazed at exactly what they do. We witnessed them helping various young men and women who were so intoxicated they had no idea how they were going to get home. The Angels provided water, blankets, cups of coffee, supplied flip flops to those who had lost shoes or just couldn’t walk in them anymore, put people in taxis, and phoned friends and family to help ensure their safety.” Bedford Street Angels originated after the tragic death of a young man, Robert Gill, who died in December 2007. His adoptive parents approached the churches of the town to explore the possibility of forming a Street Angels project to support the vulnerable that access the night-time economy and to prevent a similar tragedy happening to others. Bedford Street Angels volunteer throughout the year supporting extra events, working in partnership with various organisations including Bedfordshire Police. Sam added: “The Angels work in helping so many people in the town, as we saw on that busy night we were with them. Our night in the company of these fantastic people who give up their own time every week was both humbling and inspiring, and an experience that will stay with both Katie and I for a very long time.” Kathryn Holloway was elected Bedfordshire’s Police Crime Commissioner on May 5, 2016. Visit www.bedfordshire.pcc.police.uk |
|
ROC Angels - an initiative of ROC (Redeeming Our Communities)
Charity - 1139817 / Registered Company - 7327258 Postal Address: ROC Angels, c/o The King's Centre, Park Rd, Halifax, HX1 2TS E-Mail: [email protected] (founder / CEO) / Phone: 07725501465 |