22nd January
Holland Road Baptist Church have been extremely busy supporting both NHS workers and those experiencing homelessness in Brighton & Hove.
Gratitude bags and boxes are being sent to the hospital and to Portslade Health Centre for the Covid vaccination team and food, clothing and other items are going out to people experiencing homelessness and whom have been recently housed. The church is looking for volunteers and can be contacted and Steve Walker, the Operations Manager, can be contacted here: stevew@hrbc.org.uk
Monday lunches – This week 18 guests came for lunch and another 5 bags were sent out to distribute amongst the rough sleepers known to the church. Thanks to the Flour Pot Bakery for the rolls that have been donated.
Amongst the 18 guests, there were several new visitors including an ex-serviceman who has taken advantage of emergency accommodation when it’s extremely cold but is now living on the street again as well as others all of whom have been housed but need warm clothing and some food and company. One lady had been homeless for some time before gaining access to a studio flat. She had no belongings, not even bedding, and was sleeping in her coat and everything she needed has now been delivered to her.
She wrote,
“Thank you for dropping off the bits today. And thank you so much for the help and for being understanding towards my situation. Please pass on my appreciation to those who were kind enough to donate the items. It really has made such a huge difference and is one less thing for me to worry about.”
The City Food Distribution Hub Working from the church clocked these statistics between April 3rd and September 25th 2020…
76 volunteers , over 176 days
Covering 352 shifts!
That’s about 1056 hours
delivering about 79,200 meals!