by Michael & Melinda Heathcote
Stonepillow Chichester Homeless CharityA visit to the “Hub”
Arundel Cathedral and Our Lady of England, Storrington support the Stonepillow homeless charity with donations of food and toiletries. We regularly take these donations to the Hub at Chichester. On our recent visit in October we met the Manager, Liam O’Hagan, and the Head of Income Generation, Jenny Jackson, who kindly showed us around the building and explained what they do.
Stonepillow’s philosophy is “We believe the recovery from homelessness isn’t just about a roof over your head, it’s about rebuilding a life”. Rough sleeping has increased 26% in the last 5 years and the need is growing.
Jenny Jackson, Head of Income Generation & Liam O’Hagan, Manager
Volunteers in the Hub kitchen
Brenda Lumbard, volunteer cook, one Christmas
Stonepillow operates two Hubs and two Hostels, one each in Chichester and Bognor Regis. Working as drop-in day centres, the hubs are a first port of call for anyone who finds themselves homeless or in crisis. They meet basic needs such as showers, laundry facilities, hairdressing, hot meals, tea and coffee, and a place to chill-out. They give clients specific information and the opportunity to apply to other services and also have an integrated health team for mental / physical / drug problems etc. This includes a GP and dentist.
The Hostels offer bedrooms and communal facilities and are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
The charity operates a 5 Pillar Pathway –
1. Prevent - keeping people in their homes before they lose them;
2. Relieve – meeting urgent needs with compassion;
3. Recover - safe shelter, counselling and specialist help;
4. Resettle – moving into stable and appropriate housing;
5. Restore – education, training, volunteering work, and community connections.
We were very impressed with the charitable work of Stonepillow, and they expressed great gratitude for the donations of food and toiletries, which are very welcome to help support their clients.
We will put dates of future fundraising events in the Parish Newsletter.