There isn’t a defined path to homelessness. Residents who stay at Winchester Churches Nightshelter arrive with their own personal circumstances, experiences and challenges.
Relationship breakdowns, health problems, redundancy, addiction and mental health issues can be just some of the many triggers that lead to a person finding themselves with nowhere to call home.
At the Nightshelter, we begin by providing a welcoming and safe place to stay along with a home-cooked evening meal and breakfast. The next step is one-to-one support to help identify what the individual needs to get to where they want to be. The support that follows varies from person to person but it could be help with housing forms, CV support, peer mentoring or counselling.
Each year over 100 people stay with us and are given support to find a longer term solution. Our former residents regularly pop by to tell us how their journey has continued and about where they now work and live.
People can be left feeling helpless about how to begin to help the situation of homelessness. To mark World Homeless Day on Thursday 10th October, we thought we’d inspire you with some of the ways you can support our work and therefore be sure to have a positive impact.
Volunteer with us
Join our team of over 300 volunteers and do your bit to help the Nightshelter run. We are always looking for off-site cooks, evening helpers, weekend cooks, overnighters and much more. Without our volunteers we simply couldn’t do what we do. Check out our volunteering pages.
Donate money
Your donation will help to keep 25 people safe, warm and supported tonight and it will also help them towards a brighter future. Simply text NIGHTSHELTER to 70085 along with any amount up to £20. For other ways to donate such as Just Giving, by cheque or in your will click here.
Collaborate
Perhaps your workplace would be open to joining forces for an employer supported volunteering day. Maybe your company would like to sponsor one of our rooms or perhaps they would be willing to lend their expertise and skills. Find out more.
Spare Change for Lasting Change
Look out for collection boxes at venues across the city where you can leave your spare change. Your money will go towards tackling homelessness locally as all donations are divided between Winchester Churches Nightshelter and Trinity Winchester. Find out more.
Donate goods
We are always in need of blankets and sleeping bags as we support people sleeping rough as well as our own residents. Other much-needed items include instant coffee, non-perishable food, loo roll, kitchen roll, tea bags and cleaning products. Sadly we are limited by our storage facilities but other items we often need are single bed sheets, towels and clothing. If possible ring before dropping off any donations so we can make sure we have space to store them. Find out more.
A huge thank you from us to all our supporters who contribute to making our work possible.
