OmniLocal - Kingston Upon Thames • November 2013
COMMUNITY SECTION
Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH) has been awarded £3,470 in Grants from the Love Kingston Community Fundraising Campaign. They are using the grant to part fund the position of an Outreach and Tenancy Sustainment Worker.
This month’s Community Person: Daniel Wheeler Supplied by: Elaine Miller, Love Kingston
The current post-holder, Daniel Wheeler, works with some of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in Kingston. His key objective is to identify and gain the trust of people who find themselves sleeping rough in Kingston. If Daniel can build a relationship with someone who is new to the streets, there is a good chance that KCAH can provide a care pathway plan to help that person before they become an “entrenched” rough sleeper. The longer someone is without a place to live, the greater the chance that their physical and mental health can spiral downwards. The danger then, too, is problems of drug and alcohol misuse and brushes with the criminal justice system.
Cook & Eat Programme Giving advice on healthy eating
Job Club 6 clients have found work or started a college course
and even more so if you are street homeless, sofa surfing or have recent experiences of such uncertainty.
The focus, then, is to ‘reach out’ to rough sleepers and support them before their lives are so chaotic that it becomes exceptionally difficult to help them break away from the trap of homelessness. That is why Daniel Wheeler also works with statutory agencies to help support vulnerable people maintain their accommodation and prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
These programmes can be life-changing. One client who attended the KCAH Job Club wrote, “Without the help of KCAH, I would have not have had so much access to a phone and also free internet access to apply for jobs online. They also helped me to update my CV and were incredibly supportive. I could not afford a mobile phone for potential employers to contact me so KCAH gave me a pay-as-you-go. One time, they helped me with my travel fare to get to a job interview. I am now in full-time employment.”
Through this work, KCAH has also established some other small projects. In partnership with the NHS, KCAH runs a “Cook and Eat” Project which shows clients how to cook and eat healthily on a limited budget. It can lead to a qualification in Food Hygiene which may help the client into work at a later stage. That is why KCAH has been running a weekly Job Club since February with the support of the local Job Centre Plus. It is difficult enough to find employment in today’s economic climate
Love Kingston is able to promote the work of small local charities like KCAH where resources are often so stretched that marketing what they do to generate more income becomes a forgotten priority. Love Kingston can be a big factor in helping charities such as KCAH to flourish for the future. 5