St Petrocs in Cornwall explain...
Christmas is all tidied away, and all your donations have been sent out from Beanie Cellars. It's a grey January day, and Sue has the coffee on ready for a chat with Lois Wild. Lois is part of the communications team at St Petrocs, and agrees to share some of her experiences from the night shelter that they ran over Christmas.
Lets clear the coffee cups and hand over to Lois!
She starts..
On the night I'll describe, my colleague Ian and I arrived at 7.30pm to check the list of the people we know have booked a bed with us. We see familiar names, and sadly, as always, some we don't know yet. We open at 8pm. We explain the rules to the first timers, and get them to sign to say they agree. It's a very simple process.
The people we meet all have one thing in common other than being without a home, and that is a desperate disbelief at the situation that they have found themselves in.
Our Greg nods in agreement. One month he was the Manager at a big department store, without a care in the world. They went bust, and within 34 days Greg was on the street.
Lois sighs. Like Greg, they remain positive, even in what are, in many cases, extremely challenging times. How they find the strength to go on, I don't know.
Back at the shelter, Michelle and Cec our evening shift volunteers turn up with a box of chocolate biscuits to break the ice. And suddenly there is a buzz of chatter. Some music, a quiz, a jigsaw challenge, and the atmosphere is welcoming and warm. I think people are able to relax and unwind, knowing they have shelter and a place to feel safe.
Joe arrives with a friend he’s been sleeping rough with. He’s drunk, and he’s angry, or as it turns out, just desperate and frustrated.
I’m keeping my eye on him as he’s quite loud. Iain keeps popping in to check everything is ok. As the evening progresses, he opens up, and it turns out that he had to leave home after his partner of 15 years started a relationship with his best friend. He slept rough which led to him drinking heavily to numb the emotional pain, this led to him missing work, and that led to him losing his job.
He cannot believe he’s ended up in this situation. Again, conversations about his cat, who he adores and gave him such fond memories, and who he cannot see anymore
We sat and did a jigsaw together until 2am while he just shared his life experiences and how he had got to the position of three months sleeping rough, and now a night in a St Petrocs night shelter, while he’s seeking more permanent accommodation so he can start to rebuild his life.
He’s wearing his old work uniform, he’s a proud man who has worked hard all his life, has had many different jobs from farming, to factory work. The work jacket is a reminder of his former life and former identity.
In the morning, he’s in a much better mood after a good night’s sleep inside, and getting a lot off his chest. He lovingly shows us some photos of his cat before heading off for breakfast which is provided by the devoted volunteers who run the Breakfast Project every single morning of the year. Joe walked out of his relationship, and his home, but it doesn't always happen that way.
Sarah told me of her experience of a bailiff coming to her home and evicting her, and how he wouldn’t let her back in to get her cats. Greg tells us he had the same experience, except his was his computer and all his belongings apart from his work clothes, and that was because he was wearing them.
Things are looking good for Sarah, the next day she was pleased to tell me she’d attended a house interview in St Austell. She wants to be accommodated out of town as she doesn’t to bump into her kids while she’s trying to rebuild her life, she doesn’t want them to see her in this way.
Another man, only 25 years old has been convinced to use the shelter after some hesitation. He settles in straight away finding his bed, and sitting down. I talk about a puzzle book someone has donated, and he says “I love a wordsearch, watch me, I’ll do it in 10 minutes”. He quietly sits back and enjoys searching for words while everyone else talks, does the jigsaw and drinks tea before the 11pm curfew for hot drinks and cigarettes.
In the morning at 7.30am, Iain and I gently wake everyone up and encourage them to pack away their bedding and their belongings into plastic containers with their names on it so they can use it again the next night and again until we find them some accommodation of their own to move in to.
Some have more belongings than others. Some arrive in just the clothes they are wearing, others with so many bags and belongings that they have been trying to carry around with them. At least now they can leave them with us to look after while they go about their day to day.
There is never anywhere that's safe to leave your things if you are on the street adds Greg. They get stolen if they're any good, or taken away by the street cleaning gangs. When you have so little, to lose it all is devastating...
Thank you Lois, for sharing your night. In many areas the night shelters only open on the few nights that the temperature drops below zero. This is when local authorities activate SWEP - the severe weather emergency protocol. It helps, for sure, but it isn't permanent, and it certainly isn't enough!
Lois is nodding. This experience has had a really profound effect on me, and left me feeling bewildered, exhausted, emotional, and grateful that as an organisation, we at St Petrocs provide this service for people. It is their best option - the alternative is likely to be a night on the streets. I am proud of my colleagues who do this each year, not just as a "one off" like my efforts this year.
I feel more determined than ever to help make a difference and to end street homelessness Cornwall.
We certainly agree with that sentiment!
Thank you Lois for your time, and for sharing your experience.
If you would like to support St Petrocs in Cornwall, you can find them on Twitter as @stpetrocs and you can donate through our website @beanies_masato, where they are one of our outreach partners. You can also get information from their website www.stpetrocs.org.uk
Versions of this appeared first in CornwallLive
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