Winter Beds Project

As the weather turns colder we are hoping to offer dine-in meals: breakfast at Spicer Street and an evening meal from the Citadel. Operating from two venues provides logistical challenges, and we are discussing with St Albans District Council a possible future permanent home. There is a continuing need in St Albans for a daytime centre, where people can feel warmly welcomed and access a meal, shower facilities, clean clothes, and receive advice on how to get further support. We hope that it will not be too long before such a facility can be established.

Should you wish to support our work, you may like to consider volunteering on the meal rota. Otherwise, financial donations continue to be most welcome. Please see www.centre33.org for details.

Peter Graham, Centre 33

The Open Door’s Winter Beds Project

Open Door is one of the recipients of the Cathedral Mission Giving. For the past five years it has operated an additional ‘Winter Beds’ project, for which a number of members of the Cathedral community have volunteered.

For the past five years the Open Door Charity has provided safe, warm beds for people who would otherwise be rough sleeping in St Albans over winter. The Open Door night shelter on Bricket Road accommodates 12 people experiencing homelessness all year round, but over the bitter winter months extra bed spaces are needed to ensure no one has to sleep on the streets in St Albans. The Winter Beds Project works to prevent people dying on the streets when the temperatures plummet by providing them with self contained accommodation and access to support services that address their housing and support needs.

Last year the project provided accommodation every night from December through to April and accommodated 17 people who would otherwise slept rough. Our guests are given accommodation in selfcontained sleeper cabins. Each cabin provides secure, Covid safe accommodation with heating, electricity and en-suite facilities. Guests are provided with toiletries and given breakfast each morning. Guests of the project are supported to find secure accommodation to move on to by the rough sleeper outreach team.

Guests last year commented that “the pods feel safe, secure and peaceful away from the town centre” and that they “really appreciated being able to be on their own in a pod” that provided “all the warmth, comfort, peace and safety needed”.

The Winter Beds Project is run entirely by a team of volunteers overseen by the Project Coordinator. Last year 77 volunteers helped run the service. Volunteers support the project by welcoming guests in the evening, checking them out of cabins in the morning and helping to organise supplies and laundry. Guests take comfort in the support of volunteers and have praised the “friendliness of all the volunteers and the kindness encountered”.

Take action This year the Winter Beds Project will run from December to March and all volunteers are given full training. We are looking for more volunteers, so if you would like to be involved or find out more about the project please contact Lucy Gaygusuz at winterbedsproject@opendoorstalbans.org. For more information about Open Door visit www.opendoorstalbans.org

Lucy Gaygusuz, Open Door