Overstream News

wintercomfort for the homeless

Sept 2016

Welcome to our latest newsletter.

Our good news first: lots of positive things for service users are going on at Overstream House; Cambridge people and businesses are already signing up to take part in this year's 'Wake up with Wintercomfort' break-fast campaign; our new website is nearly ready; and, not least, we have a new roof! (So no more catching the drips in buckets when the rain pours in, and hopefully, lower heating bills too.)

But there's bad news too - homelessness is on the up in Cambridge. We don't know how many 'hidden homeless' people there are in Cambridge, sleeping on friends' floors or in temporary accommodation, but rough sleeping figures continue their relentless upward trend. It's an increasingly visible reminder of how hard life is for many people in our city.

At Wintercomfort we continue to support people in Cambridge who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Our hot breakfasts, shower and laundry facilities provide service users with the basic necessities. Our learning and development programmes, job-seeking support and social enterprise opportunities make stable employment and accommodation achievable for some, and we work closely with local agencies to support the needs of harder-to-reach individuals appropriately.

You can help us with our work by hosting a fund-raising breakfast for Wintercomfort by joining our annual 'Wake Up with Wintercomfort' campaign.

Please see our back page to find out more about how to take part in our 2016 campaign.

Thank you,

Sarah Halls, Director

Homelessness in Cambridge hits the

headlines again Anglia TV approached Wintercomfort for an assessment of an article in the local press that suggested that homeless people from other areas were being encouraged to come to Cambridge. The article reported that a homeless man had claimed to have been given a one way rail ticket here.

The Anglia TV report focused on two issues: the increasing numbers of homeless people in Cambridge and whether local authorities are using ‘reconnection’ as a means to move homeless people out of their area.

Reconnection is the process by which people sleeping rough who have a connection to another area where they can access accommodation and/or social, family and support networks, are supported to return to this area in a planned way. It’s an approach developed in the mid 2000s to combat rough sleeping in central London, and is applied widely throughout England.

For their investigation into the story, Anglia TV sought the views of James Martin and Aide Follen from Wintercomfort, and Kevin Price, Cambridge City Council’s Executive Councillor for Housing.

James (above left) thinks most councils don’t abuse the reconnection system: “It’s how it’s applied, whether it’s applied fairly,” he says. “I know that Cambridge City Council and the Street Outreach Team here won’t ‘reconnect’ anyone who wouldn’t have a bed for the night in the area they’re being asked to go to, and I think that’s applied in most Local Authorities.”

Aide (above right) explained that during his two years as a volunteer cooking free breakfasts for homeless men and women at Wintercomfort, he’s noticed the average daily number double from about 20 to around 40, with 51 on his busiest day in July.

Verified weekly counts by the Street Outreach team and Wintercomfort’s records support a picture of rising homelessness in Cambridge.

See the Anglia TV item in full here: http://bit.ly/28Ok4Qf

Average weekly homelessness and monthly breakfast counts.

Month Verified rough

sleepers

Presenting as home-

less at Wintercomfort

Free breakfasts served

at Wintercomfort

Mar 20 68 587

April 25 78 741

May 23 85 777

June 31 85 883

July 30 81 718

@wintercomfort20 Wintercomfort for the homeless

Wintercomfort newsletter Sept 2016

I come to Overstream House every Wednesday to offer pastoral support to Wintercomfort service users on a drop-in basis.

What does pastoral support look like at Wintercomfort?

Staff and volunteers at Wintercomfort genuinely care for all who come through their doors each day and I complement their work by responding to whatever presents each time I visit. For example, accompanying a service user to an important GP appointment; cutting a service user’s beard and hair so he’s presentable for a job interview; helping someone put together a CV or writing to a prison governor to request a certificate for a catering qualification obtained whilst they were inside.

Typically I talk to people who may be struggling with something and who

benefits from sharing their feelings and emotions. My background in person-centred counselling and mental health is helpful here. Recently a Wintercomfort regular was having a panic attack and called from hospital in tears; I was able to visit and calm their anxiety using mindfulness exercises.

Pastoral care is about listening

Creating safe spaces enables a person to think and reflect about their life’s journey and typically prompts questions about identity, values and beliefs, such as ‘Who am I? What do I really think about x, y or z?’ or ‘What sort of person do I want to be?’

Helping people to develop greater awareness of themselves and the wider world is healthy and helpful. And I feel it’s especially true of homeless people as they are more exposed to abuse and addiction, and can experience poor mental health and low self esteem.

Bringing people together

Recently I and Alicja Zembrzuska at Wintercomfort worked together to respond to a tragic incident that happened before Christmas. A home-less man was attacked on the street and later died of his injuries in hospital. He was a vulnerable young man who

had been suffering with depression after losing his job.

His body was flown back to his home in Poland immediately after his death leaving his Polish friends here in England with nowhere to take their grief and no ritual to mark his passing. Alicja and I were able to track down and visit his sister and the Polish priest who had prayed the last rites over him. Between us we were able to put together a meaningful and moving service, mainly in Polish, to commemorate and give thanks for his life. The service enabled the man’s friends and sister to share their grief, console each other and share stories together. By doing so, we made sure that the young man’s life was remembered respectfully as we said prayers and lit candles. Neither I, representing the Church, nor Alijca, from Wintercomfort, was able to do this without the other, but working in partnership we were able to bring people together to respond in a meaningful way.

I wholeheartedly support Wintercomfort for the way they actively build creative partnerships that seek to transform people and their situations and I’m confident that pastoral support will continue to be a part of that approach.

Pastoral support: a safe space to enable thinking and reflection. Jon Canessa is Curate at St Paul’s, Hills Road and the Bishop of Ely’s Adviser on homelessness. He works with Hope Cambridge to help churches to support homeless people and chairs the Cambridge Churches Homeless Project. In this article, Jon shares a little of how he supports Wintercomfort service users.

Exchange update In our summer newsletter we reported that Heather Yeadon had been selected to take part in Homeless Link’s 2016 transatlantic exchange programme to Central City Concern in Portland, Oregon. Read Heather’s report below.

Cities in the USA tend to have very high rates of homelessness. Portland has thousands of people sleeping on the streets each night.

Central City Concern have some really innovative and effective projects aimed at ending homelessness. They provide a wide range of support services, including building and managing permanent housing. People pay 30% of their income for rent, so they can afford housing whatever their situation.

They have some interesting recovery programmes, including a housing project run entirely by ex-addicts. Based on the 12 step Narcotics Anonymous programme, it isn’t for everyone, but it can work and give people a good chance to recover and stay clean.

I also saw some great harm reduction programmes, providing the most chronically excluded people with wrap-around person-centred support, to help them to reduce their suffering and make small steps at their own pace towards stability. Shadowing this team, I had the slightly strange experience of walking down the street with a very real looking fake gun under my cardigan!

Coming back to Wintercomfort from the US made me feel very proud of the work we do here. It’s flexible, long-term

and everyone is deeply dedicated to supporting the most chronically excluded and vulnerable people in our society in creative ways with limited resources. I’ve already presented my learning at Homeless Link in London and plan to do a presentation here at Wintercomfort in September and to our partners in the coming months.

Heather with her host Rachel Post at Central City Concern reception.

www.wintercomfort.org.uk 01223 518140 info@wintercomfort.org.uk

Sept 2016 Wintercomfort newsletter

We have a new roof!

The rain's been getting in and the heat's been getting out through our ageing roof in the last few years. So it's a great relief to have Overstream House completely re-roofed and re-insulated this summer.

We’re grateful to BAM Construction for co-ordinating donations of materials for our new roof through CRASH, the UK construction and property charity for homelessness projects. Keystone Group donated 5 new Velux windows, and Marley Eternit gave us brand new slates. The work was carried out by Cambridge Roofers, and the whole project was made

possible thanks to generous grants from the Evelyn Trust and CRASH.

Our programme of planned maintenance continues inside, with flooring donated by Axiom Group in our ground floor and basement, and updated electrical works.

A group of 6 Wintercomfort service users experienced tropical temperatures in the CU Botanic Gardens Glasshouses early this summer.

“Our visits to the Botanic Gardens are always popular. Their volunteer guides are great at engaging with everyone. We found out how different plants survive in different habitats and why their leaves are different shapes,” said Fran Bailey, Wintercomfort Project Worker. “It was chilly and rainy outside, so good to be inside in the warm and dry.”

After the visit, Susi, one of the participants, said, “I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Our guide was very knowledgeable and I’d like to go again.”

Overstream House was alive with the sound of music on Thursday afternoons in June and July thanks to Cambridge Community Arts.

Beth McCabe from CCA explains: “We wanted to run a course at Wintercomfort to create a space for people to come together and take a break from any challenges they are facing and relate to one another as musicians. From past experience we know that there is a wealth of musical talent to be found amongst homeless people.”

Solly Cham, Wintercomfort’s Apprentice Project Worker, who joined service users on the course gave the course a definite thumbs up too. “It was brilliant. I can’t believe we composed tunes from scratch.”

“The course was awesome,” said Ian, one of the students, “It was the first time I’d picked up a guitar for four years.”

Beth and course tutor Ian Francis continue: “As expected we met some very talented musicians as well as some who were keen to learn. We made a lot of noise and the Wintercomfort staff in the office across the landing were very tolerant as we wrote songs, jammed and came up with some original covers! Overall we had a great deal of fun, there was much smiling and laughter and we hope to come back again in the future!”

Cambridge Community Arts offer a range of creative courses, across the arts, delivered in the community that particularly welcome people at risk of social exclusion. In addition to developing creative skills, learners gain confidence, improve social skills and most importantly have fun and make friends.

Tapping into musical talent

Tropical taster

Wintercomfort for the homeless: Overstream House, Victoria Avenue, Cambridge CB4 1EG Registered Charity Number 1003083

Wintercomfort newsletter Sept 2016

Dancing support for

Wintercomfort

Cambridge Lindyhoppers have raised an astonishing £3103.43 for Wintercomfort in a 12 hr ‘Hopathon’.

“We wanted to raise money in memory of two of our members, Josie Camus and Michael Evans, who we lost recently. We chose to fundraise for Wintercomfort as it was a cause close to Josie’s heart.

“Our sponsored dancing team were on the dancefloor from 11.00am to 11pm on 18th June, and we opened the event up to the public in the evening, with a raffle, cake stall and music DJ'ed on vintage 78rpm shellac records - just as the artists and bands intended.”

Thank you Lindyhoppers for your incredible dedication and support!

Hain Daniels fundraisers

Hain Daniels Group in Histon, who own well known brands Hartleys and Gales among others, have chosen Wintercomfort as their charity partner. As well as sponsoring our Wake up with Wintercomfort campaign, their staff have been fundraising for us too.

Wintercomfort Director, Sarah Halls, was presented with a cheque for £1000 at the Hain Daniels Group’s offices in early August.

Thank you!

Please join us for ‘Wake up with Wintercomfort’

Wintercomfort’s annual Wake Up with Wintercomfort campaign brings people together over breakfast during October whilst supporting and thinking about homeless people.

Every £2 raised is one more breakfast for a rough sleeper. Breakfast is often the only meal of the day for them. From January up to the end of July this year, Wintercomfort served nearly 5000 hot breakfasts at Overstream House to homeless people in Cambridge.

One former participant, Sue, says: “I invited a bunch of mums for breakfast after the school drop-off. It was simple to provide coffee, juice and croissants and a great way to share news of Wintercomfort’s activities. And we raised nearly £200 so that rough sleepers can also enjoy a good breakfast.”

All you need to do to join our campaign is to host a breakfast or brunch for friends, family or colleagues at home or at work and ask them to give money to support Wintercomfort’s work. If you’d like to take part, but don’t have time to make breakfast, you can order a continental breakfast from our

Food4Food buffet for £2 a head plus £15 delivery. Book on 01223 518140.

The tenth day of the tenth month has been World Homeless Day since 2010, and provides an opportunity for local communities to get involved in responding to homelessness. To launch our event, Cambridge Mayor, Cllr Jeremy Benstead, will be serving hot breakfasts to homeless people here in Overstream House on Monday 10th October.

You can find menu ideas, planning hints and more information on our website www,wintercomfort.org.uk under the news and events tab. For additional information or to share your Wake Up experience with us, please call us on 01223 518140 or email fundraising@wintercomfort.org.uk.

Why not send us your photos of your Wake Up breakfast or brunch - we’d love to share them in our next newsletter and on social media.

Wake Up with Wintercomfort is sponsored by Hain Daniels Group. Their generosity enables us to ensure that all the funds raised by the campaign will be used in direct support of homeless people.

Happy breakfasting!

Lindyhoppers stars at St Pauls in June.

Making a difference to homeless people’s lives:

local community support for Wintercomfort