Faith in the Festival:
Angels Make Welcome Return to Leeds Festival 2013 As the countdown begins to this weekend’s Leeds 2013 with headliners Eminem, Greenday and Biffy Clyro, a team of church volunteers are seeking to expand their usual activities by showing the love of God to festival goers. Known as Festival Angels, the volunteers are returning to one of Europe’s premier music gatherings for the 3rd year with the blessing of organisers Festival Republic. Offering a faith presence and a point of safety and support during the four day event, the Festival Angels form a wider network of volunteers providing well-being to music lovers at festivals all over the UK. In Leeds they are made up of Christians who are part of Churches Together, a multi denominational organisation, and Leeds Street Angels, whose teams regularly provide care to those in need on a night out in the city centre. At Leeds Festival they will be patrolling the site, and be based at the Prayer Tent, a place of sanctuary where anyone can come to chat, pray, relax and be provided with low cost hot drinks. Festival Angels co-ordinator is Reverend Andy Nicholson, of St Peters Church in Thorner, whose parish covers the festival site: “We first came to Leeds in 2011, and the tent was only open from 10am to 4pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We had 20 volunteers and it soon became apparent that we needed to provide a wider service of care. This year, with the support of Festival Republic, we are pleased to have nearly 100 Festival Angels, from Thorner and across the North of England. So we are now able to run the prayer tent 24/7, and manage the Lost Property Tent from site opening on Wednesday afternoon to closing on Monday.” Sarah Tschentscher from Festival Republic Said: “The Festival Angels offer festival goers at Leeds a warm welcome, light refreshments and a listening ear. It is great to have the Angels onsite at Leeds Festival once again and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the groups from the local Thorner Churches.” Unfortunately our application for Big Lottery Funding was unsuccessful. We had applied so that we would be able to extend our staff team and pay a realistic salary as we develop and strengthen the support we offer new and existing projects through areas such as accredited training, alcohol and safety education resource, regional networks, celebrating local stories at national level, developing new ideas, etc, etc...
Please pray for Paul, Jean and the Trustees as they pray about and decide the way forward long term for SA-CNI Network. Source
On 31 July, representatives from Cleveland's Street Angels visited the Offices of the Police & Crime Commissioner to brief Barry Coppinger of their projects and experiences in their local towns. ‘Street Angels’ is a model originally developed in Halifax in 2005 to engage the local community in assisting the police and council to reduce alcohol-related crime and antisocial behaviour within the town’s night-time economy (NTE). This was achieved by providing trained volunteers to patrol the streets between 9pm and 3am each Friday and Saturday. The project was openly declared a success by all involved, with police figures demonstrating a 59% reduction in NTE crime over the previous 12-month period. The model has since extended into more than 120 other towns and cities across the UK where, through partnership working alongside the police and local authorities, large reductions in crime have also been reported. Projects are encouraged to take on their own structure in order to meet local need rather than being controlled centrally; and success is the result of Churches, Councils and the Police working in partnership, together with suitably selected and trained volunteers, offering a caring and compassionate presence on the streets within the NTE period. Similar projects across the UK are operated under a range of titles – street angels, town pastors, nightlights – but all aim to deliver a calming presence within their own communities. In December 2009, Stockton Town Pastors launched and has been providing a presence in Stockton each Friday and Saturday evening ever since, with occasional support in Yarm during student-focused ‘Cannonball’ events. It is a charity with 62 volunteers, and they won a Mayor’s Citizenship Award in 2013. The Project Manager, Steve Brock, is also a Trustee with the Street Angels – Christian Nightlife Initiatives (SA-CNI) charity, and is engaged within the Northern region in developing new projects. Boro Angels started operating in Middlesbrough in January 2010 on Saturday evenings only, and have a smaller number of volunteers. They are a charity and won a Mayor’s award for citizenship in 2011. Hartlepool Town Pastors started patrols in May 2011 and currently fall within the remit of the Elim church in Whitby Street, as part of a wider community outreach. They provide patrols each Friday and Saturday evening, with occasional patrols on Thursdays and Sundays when there is a need. They received a Police Commanders Commendation in 2012 for service to the community. Guisborough Nightlights hope to start a pilot on Westgate in September, initially working from ‘The Bridge’ Methodist Resource Centre. Funding for each of the projects comes from a variety of sources, for example: individual donations, gifts from local Christian trusts and fundraising activities. Training of volunteers is paramount to success, and each of Cleveland’s projects shares training in respect of policies and procedures, conflict management and Emergency First Aid at Work. Hartlepool and Stockton are provided with radios, with contact to CCTV departments, on a cost-free basis. Further information can be obtained by visiting www.stocktontownpastors.co.uk & www.sa-cni.org.uk
Wash My Pink Jumper is a project CNI Network has recently partnered with and is keen to see this rolled out to localities across the UK and beyond...
Source One in four women are now drinking beyond the recommended alcohol limit each week – and some, like Kym-Marie Cleasby’s daughter Beth, have risked their health and even their lives in a terrifying cycle of binge drinking. Now, an army of self-proclaimed ‘Big Sisters’, who have each made their own mistakes growing up, are here to show young women there is more to life than getting falling down drunk. Kym-Marie Cleasby, 50, from Witney was so horrified by the extent of her teenage daughter Beth’s binge drinking she left her job and made it her mission to steer other vulnerable young women away from the dangers of alcohol. Last year she set up the new and unique charity, Wash My Pink Jumper, and has been joined in her quest by 15 women – or ‘Big Sisters’ – who will be offering young women in Witney, aged 16-30, support, advice and mentoring through weekly coffee meetings and a telephone helpline. ‘Big Sister’ Miriam Williams, 24, is a part-time charity worker from Witney. She said: “I volunteered for Wash My Pink Jumper because at university I drank, struggled with depression and didn’t know where to turn to. “I became very lost and really needed support. And Wash My Pink Jumper is the kind of support that someone like me could have turned to aged 19.” She continued: “The culture of drinking at uni was considered normal, and not drinking excluded me and left me feeling very alone. “I would have loved a ‘Big Sister’ to talk to and support me in this, which is why I’m so keen to be able to do that for young women. I got involved simply because I couldn’t stand by and watch if I had the ability to help.” ‘Big Sister’ Jamie Drew, from Witney, is mum to two daughters, aged eight and 10, and wants to help create a lasting support network that could even help her children one day. She said: “Growing up in the United States I went off the rails in my teens and though I had a great family, I had no-one to mentor me and talk to me about making the best decisions. “Arriving here in Britain from the States to go to college I wasn’t a drinker, but soon realised that going out drinking was something young, British people did a lot and that buying alcohol was often cheaper than buying a coke.” She continued: “I want to be there for girls who are making important decisions and maybe need someone to talk things through. “I also hope that when my daughters are older, and maybe don’t want to talk to me about some things, there will be a Wash My Pink Jumper Big Sister they can talk to.” Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week but one in four women between the ages of 16-24 regularly exceeds those levels. Wash My Pink Jumper founder Kym-Marie Cleasby will never forget the day she learned the true extent of her teenage daughter Beth’s binge drinking. She said: “Beth was at university studying fashion photography and within the first term had spent all her student grant and was £1,000 overdrawn. “When she confessed that it had basically all gone on drink – and that she was drinking around 240 units – the equivalent of 120 pints a week, I was terribly shocked. “But she also said drinking was just something her friends ‘did’. And that she felt she had no choice but to join in, which left me heartbroken. “I desperately wanted to show her that it didn’t have to be like that. That she had other choices, and ones that wouldn’t make her ‘boring’.” The full extent of Beth’s binge drinking was terrifying. Now 24, she explained: “My binge drinking started before I joined university, however being a student definitely exaggerated it. “Some clubs sold pints for 50p while a bottle of water was £1.50, but they wouldn’t give you tap water. “My friends and I would easily drink a litre of vodka between us before going out and spending £50 in venues where drinks were £1 or less. “Unfortunately my drinking began to spiral, and nights where I could barely remember getting into a club, let alone leaving it, became a regular occurrence. Waking up with strange men in my house or waking up in strange houses and not knowing how I got there, happened weekly. “If I hadn’t stopped drinking when I did I might have ended up in hospital or worse. “The thought that during my blackouts I could have been assaulted and still don’t know if I was, scares me.” Beth would eventually get her drinking under control, thanks to the support of her family. But Mrs Cleasby’s wish to help other girls break the cycle of binge drinking continued, and last year she gave up her job as a director of a large international charity to start Wash My Pink Jumper. The unusual name, Wash My Pink Jumper comes from a coded phrase Mrs Cleasby and Beth used during her daughter’s recovery. Whenever Beth felt she was in a situation that could lead to binge drinking, she would phone her mother and say the phrase, prompting her mum to pick her up. Mrs Cleasby said: “Wash My Pink Jumper is not for alcoholics. “It is for young women who want to escape the binge-drinking lifestyle, and because of that we have come up with a unique two-tier service – a 24-hour helpline for girls to phone, and also a weekly coffee meet-up at a cafe in Witney, where they can chat to our ‘big sisters’, women who can mentor them and instill them with confidence to make their own choices, away from alcohol. “Of course drinking can also endanger your health and put you at risk of serious assault and if needs be we can also refer to third parties if we need further professional help. “I have referral systems set up with Base 33 (a local initiative for the young affected by drugs, alcohol etc) and Wash My Pink Jumper is also on the agenda of the next Neighbourhood Policing Team in Witney.” Mrs Cleasby had hoped for at least 10 women to volunteer for Wash My Pink Jumper, but was stunned when 30 came forward – 15 are now ‘Big Sisters’ while 15 others will be manning the charity’s helpline. ‘Big Sister’ Nikki Nash, 32, is a mum-of-two from Witney. She said : “It’s been shocking to learn, through statistics, just how much of a problem binge drinking has become and just how many young people are now regularly drinking themselves into oblivion. “We hope that by meeting young women in a cafe environment, we will build friendships and trust. “We’re not there to step in and save the day. But we hope to be there for people who might need us. And for me it’s an honour to be able to do that.” Source
DRUNKEN chatter takes hold of the High Street as alcohol gets to work on its night shift. A group of women have decided to head home at midnight and wait for transport at a taxi stand. As a metered vehicle steers into the layby its tyres creep over the top of an unseen empty glass bottle. Under the pressure the vessel explodes sending small shards flying into the air, cutting the head of one of the waiting women. A message crackles over the radio and within minutes a team of red jacketed volunteers, the Street Angels, arrive to patch her up, ensure she is ok and get her safely into a taxi. They do this several times a night, every Saturday night in Bedford to help people out and in the process free up police and ambulance crews from low level work. “Our first aim is to keep people safe,” says Stephen Elphick, chairman of Street Angels. “We are Christian but we don’t go out there to preach.” He adds: “It allows the church to get beyond church boundaries.” Street Angels was set up around four and a half years ago after the death of 17-year -old Robert Gill, who was beaten up and thrown in the River Great Ouse following a night out. In two mixed gender teams the volunteers patrol the town centre streets from 10.30pm to 12am and 12.30am until around 4am. They provide flip flops for girls who have given up on their heels, water for the worse for wear, silver blankets during the winter, minor first aid, lollipops to help maintain a good mood and they collect discarded bottles left out on the streets. But their core purpose is to make sure vulnerable people finish their evenings safely. “We have 27 volunteers at the moment aged from 19 to 74 years old and they all come from different churches around Bedford”, says Stephen. “At one level we are independent but at the same time we work with BedSafe. We’ve got a good working relationship with the police and the kids appreciate what we do.” Joining one of the teams on a Saturday night it is instantly noticeable how much respect and recognition they get from the crowds. “It’s staggering the effect the jackets have and it gives us a platform to start conversation as we are a kind of informal counselling service as well,” says 24-year-old Ben Scott, one of the volunteers. “Though sometimes we have been mistaken for Arsenal players because the badge is quite similar.” During the night the team keep an eye on arguments that could escalate, they check on a man who is a little worse for wear and has chosen a doorway as a bed for the night and hand out water to a tipsy 18-year-old who wisely advises ‘it’s all good fun until someone loses a b*llock’. “Some people don’t ask for help because they are too embarrassed or feel they don’t need it. There’s a host of reasons why someone vulnerable may not ask for help”, says Ben. Perhaps the summer heat has taken its toll because the town centre seems unusually subdued, but this could also be an example of the impact of the work done by the Street Angels and the authorities. “I think Bedford is very well run on Saturday nights. It has significantly improved and there’s probably less violence too,” says Stephen. As closing time beckons hopefully the only other head injuries sustained from the night will be the pounding hungover headaches the next morning. If you are interested in volunteering with Street Angels contact Stephen Elphick on [email protected] Hello,
We thought it was high time for an update, and have finally have got around to it! Amazingly we are half way through our summer season here in Santa Ponsa, we have been going out every Fri and Sat night, 22:00-02:00 although we have recently decided that we need to be out from 04:00 -07:00 to be most effective, therefore we are now going out Sat and Sun mornings. We have an amazing team of around 25 volunteers, and are steadily attracting more people, all keen to make a difference in their town, by taking the love of Jesus onto the streets. We have been asked many times when we are going to start in Magaluf, and we have been considering and praying about this regularly. We are very keen to start ASAP, however it has taken time in Santa Ponsa for us to find out what works, and to understand the need there more, also for the volunteers to get used to working together and develop the best ways to help people etc. which of course is ongoing. Currently we plan to remain in Santa Ponsa for the rest of the summer, although we hope to try a couple of weekends close to the end of the season in Magaluf, this isn't confirmed yet, and depends on availability of volunteers, and the ok from the police. It has taken a while to meet the police on duty, but it has been very positive when we have, and we hope to develop more of a working relationship with them as time goes on, it's very important we are consistent in our work for this to happen which is another reason to stay in Santa Ponsa for the summer. We plan to run another training session early in the spring, and then God willing start in Magaluf in time for the season. To give you an idea of what we have been doing, here are our records from our last two weekends: 27th-28th July 0400-0700 During this weekend we: Assisted a couple who had 2 phones stolen and diffused the situation with the suspected thief. Assisted 2 girls with broken front door to apartment, checked it was safe and reassured them. Helped a guy back to his hotel. Cleared broken glass. Assisted 2 girls, 1 was semi conscious and vomiting, we stayed with them until they were able to walk with us back to the hotel. Helped a very disorientated guy find his friends. Gave directions. Picked up 30 bottles. Gave out many wristbands. Gave saline solution for a girls infected belly piercing. 20th / 21st July, 04:00 - 07:00 Assisted three females with cut feet Gave water to five very sick people and stayed with them till their friends arrived. Took almost comatosed male to his hotel, he was coherent and grateful before we left him. Assisted male who had, had over € 2000 stolen from his wallet Assisted male with cut to head Assisted three males to taxi, one with a bad knee Got ice for mans fist, after he had punched a post Gave out wristbands for people to learn more about who we are and why we do what we do. It's great seeing the need and being able to help and everyone who has experienced it has found it very rewarding. We do need more volunteers so if you want to come along and experience a night with us before the season is finished, please get in touch with us to find out which night would be best. You don't need training to join us for one night, and this enables you to experience it and see if you want to be involved. If you're already a volunteer then please check the calender and put your name down for any of the coming weekends that you can make it, we need people for every weekend at the moment :) Ideally look ahead a few weeks as well, and put your name down for alternating weeks or the dates that best suit, of course you can always just call me as well. Thanks so much for your support, and prayers, and we hope to hear from / see you soon! God bless Cameron, Abi and Anour Left: It's never too late - or early - for an ice cream on a hot summers night for these Bradford Street Angels; Right top: Blackpool Street Angels; Right bottom: Leeds Street Angels cover the opening of the brand new Leeds Arena where 13,500 people enjoyed Bruce Springsteen. A comment on Twitter - someone talking about Street Angels - said, 'nobody's ever been that nice to me' As volunteers invest into people and communities across the UK, Europe and Australia we are bringing hope, love, joy, niceness, peace and purpose to so many. The work we do counts! Feedback on social media every weeks shows the value others place on the help offered to them by a Street Angel, Town Pastor, Street Chaplain, NightLight volunteers. Thanks to all those who volunteer to make the difference in the lives of others...
From our Blog: New Insurance Company offers discount insurance - CNI Network is now able to offer two choices of Insurance cover for local projects and other charities / organisations - Tennyson and AON. See our shop page for details of both companies. New product - body-warmer style alternative to foil blankets (as seen on Dragons Den!) See shop page for more details. From Facebook and Twitter: Successful Night Club Angels - Croydon = 1 tattoo interpretation +2 friendly toilet ladies +3 types of snacks + 4 Amazing Angels + 5 friends helping one to sit up + 6 buckets of sick +7 Friendly Staff + 8bags searched + 9 drunken ladies + 10 more than you think bottles of water drunk.... that rates 10/10 In the last 24hrs I've had other people's vomit, wee & blood on me @247Ibiza #onlyinIbiza #allinadayswork Nothing like standing in poundland - arms full of flip flops to start a conversation! #raisingawareness Getting excited... 3,000 travel mugs (check), 25Kilos of coffee (check), 48 bistro chairs & 12 tables (check), 60litres milk (check), 1000 love hearts (check), a mountain of sweets (check), 4,000 glo-in-the-dark wristbands (check) wellies & suncream (check)... Must be Latitude @LnStreetPastors - @UCBMedia @cninet radio advert just heard for the CNI national Conference! Go #streetangels! YourNight is now available in the GooglePlay store - free download designed to ensure people have a fun and safe night out in your town... Tweet of the week so far, "If Heineken did care and community they'd do STREET ANGELS!" love it!!!! thank you for looking out for everyone in Kingston last night, thank you for the flip flops and the great conversation x I love the street angels and my flip flops just great!!!" thanks :-) :-) :-) @BF_StreetAngels Very wet Street Angels just had a brew in Ibis Hotel now back out in pouring rain in Blackpool Centre last night the street angels saved my life #SickRemix #TrueStoryBrehh Pay day weekend and #Camberley #StreetAngels out & about in town. Lollys at the ready. Powered by flipflips :-) @BurtonStAngels Busy night called for 1st aid twice. Every one v happy to see us again. Lots of incidents police in big numbers #streetangels #fb Today is Orange Wednesday where we give out free oranges on the beach in Ibiza & often end up in great chats. Wow!!!! Yet again God doing SUCH awesome things on the streets of San An #Ibiza @247Ibiza God you are so at work!! #privileg Hey Owen&Emily, good pic ... oozing with generosity for Oldham Street Angels THANK YOU guys pic.twitter.com/a4ghzzRXFS Very sad 2 read alcohol related deaths increasing in young women http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23358078 … - work we & partners do hoping to change this trend Great message of support from Lichfield Police for Late Night Listeners: "Outstanding, as usual.Don't know what we would do without you now" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10186541/Rise-in-rapes-and-sexual-assaults-abroad.html … - very sad about increase - stay safe if u r on holiday - #YourLifeIsPrecious @Diageo_News In GB, 47% of drinkers aged 18-21 are embarrassed by pictures & videos of their drunken behaviour #thinkhowyoudrink http://bit.ly/12V1FWF @bigbible Did the Israelites need the Facebook timeline? (@paulblakey) http://fb.me/Q7c3Dq7I the street angels gave us flop flips pic.twitter.com/3nTWb3SijO The flip flops I received from street angels were a godsend Nothing has pleased me more than seeing the Street Angels wandering wetherby in their matching red t-shirts #SayNoToDrugsKids #Memories Whilst driving through town my mums like 'awwww its nice they've got these guardian angels walking the streets' no mum they're street angels Loving the 'Street Angels' pulling me out a bush tonight..."you alright love"... "yeah yeah just smelling the lavender" lols @WokingBeat Woking street angels in action, a great help for us and to help get you home pic.twitter.com/3CQX0QHtz0 Diary for August: Wed 21st - Mon 26th - Leeds Festival Angels - over one hundred volunteers from across the UK are at the Leeds Festival offering Festival Angels, refreshments tent and running Lost Property as part of the welfare. #CNIPrayer for the teams, for a peaceful trouble free festival and all those attending. Web Site / Twitter / Facebook Fri 30th - Sun 1st Sept - CNI Network National Conference - still plenty of availability for Saturday 10am - 4pm including fast paced morning talks, keynote speaker Debra Green OBE, lunch, afternoon workshops and opportunity to meet people involved in night-time initiatives from across the UK. £30 per person - see here. #CNIPrayer for August: Belfast Golden Mile NightLight / South Tyneside Street Angels / Harrogate Town Pastors / HYP Project (Helping Young People) Halifax / Bedford Street Angels / Hitchin Street Angels / Wolverton Street Ministers / Teifi Town Pastors, Cardigan / Thanet Community Pastors - Ramsgate - see our Prayer page for detailed prayer requests... Please also pray for the final plans and delegates and speakers at the National Conference at the end of August and that this will be a great weekend of purpose, learning and developing relationships and links between people, projects and organisations. ![]() 'Street Angels - the amazing story from binge to better' the eBook... The exciting history of the amazing movement that is changing towns from binge to better with contributions from local projects including: Aldershot Town Centre Pastoral Team, Arun Angels, Aylesbury Town Chaplaincy, Bedford Street Angels, Belfast NightLight, Belper Street Angels, Boro Angels, Boscombe Street Angels, Bridlington Street Angels, Carmarthen NightLight, Dundee ROCK Street Chaplains, Exmouth Open Door NightShift, Fleet Town Centre Project, Guildford Street Angels, Halifax Street Angels, Hillingdon Street Angels, Huddersfield Street Angels, Keighley NightShift, Leeds Club Angels, Leeds Festival Angels, Leeds Street Angels, Love Your Streets, Macclesfield Street Angels, Oldham Street Angels, Scarborough Street Angels, Scarborough Youth Angels, Skipton Street Angels, Street Angels Spain, Stockton Town Pastors, Tenerife The Living Room, Telford Sanktuary, Wash My Pink Jumper and Watford Street Angels. The eBook will be launched at the National Conference on Saturday 31st August and then available on various eBook platforms and as a PDF via the CNINetwork.org.uk web site from September 2nd. Resources:
Volunteers from Stockton Town Pastors, Hartlepool Town Pastors, Boro Angels and Guisborough's soon-to-launch 'Nightlight' met with Cleveland's Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger. The PCC wished to thank volunteers for their hard work and passion for their local communities.
Source
West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williams joined the Halifax Street Angels last night (Friday) to get a first-hand look at their work. He joined the team on their walk around the town and discussed how community projects like the Street Angels can work with the police. -- Street Angels - CNI founder Paul Blakey MBE accompanied Mark on his patrol and chatted to him about the links between Street Angels and the policing plan. Mark offered to meet with Street Angels project leaders from across West Yorkshire to look strategically as a region. Mark also shared how other Police and Crime Commissioners were joining Street Angels on patrol across the UK. Source
So great is the problem that food banks have become commonplace in Shropshire and just last week the Trussell Trust said three times as many people received emergency supplies from food banks in the three months from April this year compared with the same period last year. Telford food bank was set up in April as part of the wider Telford Crisis Network, which co-ordinates help for the most vulnerable people in the borough. It is managed by Crisis Network co-ordinator Jake Bennett. Jake is at the food bank in Madeley every night between 5.30pm and 6.30pm, co-ordinating the volunteereffort. About 100 people have volunteered since the food bank opened its doors and the centre has about 25 regulars. Jake said: “Throughout the day people in crisis contact one of the agencies that form part of the Crisis Network – including Citizens Advice and Telford & Wrekin Council – to request support in the form of a food parcel. “We typically receive someone who has been removed from their domestic situation. “If somebody has been removed through, say, abuse and has a baby of their own, having food shows that they can provide for their own child. “We go from something like that through to people who temporarily find it difficult because of delays with their benefits. “When there is a change in someone’s circumstances, that causes a delay in payments, so even if people are trying to get themselves out of the situation they are in it can have a negative knock-on effect.” Last month Telford Food Bank fed 500 people. A third of those were children. Jake said: “Because of the school holidays, with children being at home and not getting a meal in school, we do anticipate an increase in demand from next week.” The information about those applying for help is fed into a database ready for Jake and his team ofvolunteers when they start at 5.30pm. Most of the food comes from members of the public and is donated at community centres. Pair ‘go from the worst of the worst to the top’ thanks to team at Telford Crisis Network Telford Food Bank is just one part of a wider support network operating across the borough. Telford Crisis Network is an informal web of public, private, voluntary and community sector agencies designed to co-ordinate the help that the most vulnerable people in our society need. And nowhere is that help more perfectly illustrated than in the case of two young homeless people whose lives have been turned around in the space of just two days. Onyx Bradbury, 21, and Sky Johnson, 24, had been sleeping on the streets for years, before the Crisis Network came to their aid. Onyx said: “I was in care from a young age and got kicked out at 18 because that’s when they stop looking after you. “I met Sky in Northampton and eventually we ended up in Shropshire. “We had been going from agency to agency but not really getting anywhere.” Then, by chance while they were sleeping rough in Shifnal, the couple met Deborah Reck, a team leader for Sanktuary. Sanktuary, which is part of the Crisis Network, offers a safe space for clubbers in Wellington though its “street angels” scheme. Deborah said: “I wasn’t planning to go to Shifnal that night, but I went to the Co-op to get milk and Onyx was in a sleeping bag on the pavement outside. “I started a conversation with her. I told them I knew how to contact Jake and phoned him. Within 20 minutes he phoned back to say he could come down and start to help them. “Jake took them to the KiP project (an information project and day centre for homeless people) and then took them to Telford & Wrekin Council to get registered for housing. “By 5pm I was told that they had a key and they were ready to move in. “We were able to get them food through the food bank. It was only on Thursday that they got any money. “They only got that because we went through an extra process at the JobCentre, otherwise it would have been another three weeks. “That’s where the food bank comes into its own. There are an awful lot of people who fall through the gaps. We get people who say to us they know they have benefits coming but they’re having to wait three weeks and what are they supposed to do until then.” Thanks to the help from the Crisis Network, Onyx was able to celebrate her 21st birthday in a house. She said: “Our lives just turned around, going from the worst of the worst to the top.” Onyx is now in the process of trying to start up her own cleaning business with help from people she had been put in touch with by the network. |
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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 |