The Narrowgate emergency night shelter project was initially set up as a 3 month feasibility project. It was running from the 10th November over the bitterly cold winter that we have recently experienced. It was an emergency cold weather provision, set up in response to the need of existing rough sleepers in the Salford area.
The pilot project was also set up to gain experience and valuable knowledge in order to fulfill Manchester City Mission’s vision, that of establishing a permanent, purpose built shelter for rough sleepers.
The Windsor Christian Centre sports hall was transformed into a temporary dormitory to provide night accommodation that was available for homeless people on a nightly basis. Over the period of the pilot project, we have had contact with 37 agencies from Manchester and surrounding areas referring clients to the shelter.
Each night, the shelter provided a clean, warm bed, pillow and duvet with a light supper being served during the evening and breakfast in the morning, to those who would otherwise be sleeping rough on the streets.
Since inception, we have experienced a high take up of the service as we have had in excess of 140 homeless people register to use the shelter and we have had up to 28 clients use the facilities each evening which were cared for by an army of volunteers.
Over the life of the project, we recruited over 50 volunteers who worked tirelessly, night by night, preparing a mountain of tinned soups and countless cups of hot tea! The clients munched their way through more than 1,120 tins of soup (or similar), 372 loaves of bread, 93 tubs of margarine, 205lbs of sugar, 128 gallons of milk and countless tea bags!
As a matter of interest, including heating (but not staffing costs), Manchester City Mission accounts department have worked out that it has cost in the region of £29 per night to run the pilot project - no mean feat, especially as we were working on a shoestring budget!
The clients were given the opportunity of being referred to the support workers at the Windsor drop-in centre to discuss their housing and benefit issues. To date, the centre has helped 15 clients to find permanent accommodation, 5 of which have also managed to find employment. We praise God that we have also experienced people accepting the Lord Jesus as their own personal savior for the first time, and we have even helped back slidden people re-find Jesus.
We are now looking at how we can make our vision a reality and we are working on a project plan. Various things will need to happen like gaining planning permission from Salford City Council for the change of use of the building. There will probably need to be some substantial building improvements to the sports hall to incorporate an office, storage and laundry areas as well as separate male and female dormitories. There will also be a need to employ full time members of staff to manage the project on a day to day basis and to recruit as well as manage an army of volunteers.
We realise that all of this will take a considerable amount of time and money for the project to become a reality and we believe that despite being in a time of financial uncertainty, we have a God who does not believe in credit crunches and so, we are trusting Him to provide.
Please pray for guidance and wisdom as we write a project plan that and that we will do everything to glorify the name of the Lord.