Homelessness

Homelessness effects many families. In many cases, in all walks of life, people leave home after some altercation, and sleep rough. Many of them just need help, support and assistance during a rough transition time.



Sadly, we as a society see them all as drug addict or alcoholics, and yes, they are out there, but all homeless people should not be tarred with the same brush. We should ask ourselves, how we we like to be categorised by society? 'They have too much money' or 'they have not enough to join our circle' - we wouldn't like that, but it's happening every day on the streets.



Over 45% of people on the streets in Newport are transitory homeless. Which means that within a short period of time they have come from their family homes and have nowhere to go. It could happen to us or to one of our children or grandchildren. Why am I writing about this this morning? It's because I have agreed to join a homeless project in our Church, whereby one night a week (a Saturday in our case) we open the doors of the Church hall to homeless people, for them to sleep and eat for one night. There are seven Churches involved in this project, so that each night of the week, through the two worse months of the year, the homeless have food and shelter and emotional support over the emotive seasons of Christmas and New Year.








The initiative is being run by Newport Night Shelter (NNS) in conjunction with the Teen Challenge initiative, that has existed in Monmouthshire for many years. It was they who approached the individual Churches, through the auspices of Newport Churches Together
and then passed the project over to those Churches who wanted to partake. We needed seven Churches before we could go ahead, one for each night of the week. The information will be advertised through NNS, who will phone ahead with the names and dates of birth of our guests, so that we know how many are coming and who they are when they arrive, If the place is not pre-booked then there will be no access allowed. This is for our own safety and for the comfort of those actively seeking help. We are all volunteers, and apart from myself and two people who will be advising from NNS, no other volunteer has worked with the homeless before. There will be no alcohol or drugs allowed into the hall, and while people will not be frisked before entry (this will be carried out on trust - and this fact established before booking) they will be turned away immediately if they do not hand over what they are carrying. All possessions will be returned to guests before they leave. The most important part of all this is that volunteers do not sit in judgement on the people asking for help. Who are we to judge?



This is a challenge from God and we are raising to that challenge just as Jesus did. I do not make this a religious forum as you Blog followers are aware, your beliefs are your own, but if you are a Christian please pray for us and our guests as we embark upon this difficult challenge through the next two months. I will keep you posted as they say!