Bev

                                   

How I got involved..... a while ago a mutual friend shared a post from the Street-Light page, realizing it was Rachel and Anastasia, who I knew anyway, I began to follow then page, and being the softy I am, most of Anastasia's posts made me cry, the stories behind the girls and guys she was meeting on the streets of Bournemouth. Like many others I wanted to get involved but wasn't sure how, so when I saw they were holding a meeting, i went along and so last night was my first evening with Street-Light Bournemouth.

As other first time volunteers had said, i did feel anxious and not quite sure what to expect, but as soon as i met the other volunteers, i felt at ease and in no time, we were inundated. Many of the homeless know to come to the soup kitchen on a Saturday night, so we handed out the lovely home cooked meals, hot & cold drinks, chocolate, crisps, fruit & water. But that's not all, toiletries, clothes and more importantly time for a chat and a hug. It was good to put faces to names having read their stories, there are some real characters and they are all so grateful and friendly.

After a while, five of us, four 'newbies' including myself, went on the outreach walk, Kaylee lead the team she was an inspiration and so good and professional with the homeless guys we met. I lost count to be honest, but I will remember some names, one lad not much older than my son, alone and scared, so heart wrenching! We found quite a few guys, many on their own, sat in doorways, under arches, yet all around were 100's of people out clubbing, the noise and chaos, awful!! And there we were pulling our little trolleys and battling through the crowds to find these guys, the hot meals were barely warm now but still gratefully received, we sat down on the ground with them to chat.

Some of them were new faces, but the thing that struck me most, were how polite and gracious they all were. It really is an eye-opener, its either bad luck, misfortune or terrible situations that people end up in this situation, its not a choice, but to just give up a few hours a week means so much to others, and yes i drove home at midnight and cried! Bev x

Why Emma started volunteering with street light

                                  

The reason Emma started working with streetlight  Its a long read but its a good one, enjoy ! 


*** ANDREW HAS GIVEN US PERMISSION TO POST HIS PHOTO***

it was a Saturday in February. Christchurch had been experiencing some of it's most extreme weather in over 50 years. Looking out of the window, I realised that actually it had stopped raining and I decided to nip out to Marks and Spencer's to buy something lovely for dinner as a treat for my boyfriend.

On returning home I walked past a lady crouching in a doorway with her back facing out. Getting closer I saw a small man, hunched up on a cool box, wet and shivering. The lady was saying "Don't you worry. Us in Christchurch will look after you". I went home and unpacked my posh buys from Marks and I stood in my kitchen. I thought, what can I give this man? Crisps? A thermal mug of tea? This was odd, because it hadn't crossed my mind ever before to do something nice for a "tramp" (being brutally honest here including using words I hate myself for using now I know better). I had seen homelessness before of course. Under the underpass. I have hurried past a sleeping body many times before. Looking away or avoiding at all if I could. But this was different. Something in this made me WANT to help. Maybe it was his very posh sounding voice 'thank you so much' in response to this woman's assurance that he would be looked after.

When my partner came home, he was adamant that he didn't want me to go alone but was nervous going down with me as it didn't strike him as really safe. We had never seen this guy before, he reasoned. Let's find out a bit more about him first, he said.

Unfortunately (for My boyfriend) I very rarely listen to reason, once have an idea in my head and this was no exception. Around four weeks later, after the storms had passed, (but remembering that we really had experienced some awful weather in Christchurch including flooding, thunderstorms and squalls) I caught sight of this gentleman sitting in a doorway in Saxon square. I stood in the square and thought. Suddenly I had the most overwhelming urge to show him some kindness. I battled with myself for ages...what if he told me to sling my hook? What if he was rude? But I remembered that on Facebook previously I had seen a status from my friend Chelle (sure she won't mind me sharing her name) saying she had used the last £1 in her purse to buy a homeless man in her town a cup of tea. I opened my purse, and made a deal with myself. If there was enough for a cuppa from Costa (small mortgage needed!) I would get it and give it to this guy. There was. So off I went. I approached cautiously and put the cup down by his side. He didn't notice me for what felt like an age. Then He caught my eye and beamed (wait till you see this guys smile - blimey, bet he's broken a few hearts!) all I could say was 'you must be so cold'. He just smiled and thanked me. I felt amazing the whole rest of the day. On a high. Buzzing.

After this, I began looking for him and offering him packages of food. At this time a new page popped up on Facebook. Streetlight - bournemouth. I messaged the page explaining that I would like to be involved and that I had been helping this guy in Christchurch. The page founder was very supportive about this and complimentary. She offered me the opportunity to come to an outreach walk when the group was up and running. I was feeling the urge to know about my homeless friend (see, homeless? Not Tramp!!) so I posted on Facebook on Spotted Bournemouth asking if anyone had seen him and knew anything about him. Aside from finding out that his name was Andrew, he was perfectly nice, liked coffee with two sugars and smoked Cutters Choice, I was overwhelmed with how many nice things were said. So many people had seen him and a few, on finding out he was 'safe' from the people that knew him, offered to feed him that weekend and they followed through! Fab!

So, Andrew. Andrew is 52. He is an ex addict, clean and dry.. This time around he has been homeless since just before Christmas. Loss of job and mental health issues see him sleeping rough. He is such a nice guy. I went to see him everyday that I wasn't at work. I took him hot meals, cold meals, coffee and biscuits. He entrusted me with where he was sleeping at night (most rough sleepers won't) and lots of times I would literally go and find him, sitting on a bench in the gardens around Christchurch and just chat with him. We were very peaceful in each other's company and had an entire repertoire of jokes and banter that we went through every time we saw each other. I didn't always take food. Sometimes I just went and sat on the floor with him and listened to stories and told him about my day. Meanwhile I had been getting involved more and more with Streetlight, and Anastasia and Rachel. I was collecting donations, making food, packaging toiletries and helping with food drops and outreach. Andrew loved to hear about that!

Then one day, Andrew disappeared. I looked for him in all his spots and found nothing. No one knew anything, and if they did they weren't saying anything. Poor Anastasia - I nearly drove her demented banging on about how I hoped he was ok.
After about three weeks, I was in Bristol with my friend having a break the Monday after doing a food drop. Anastasia text me saying that Thorlack had seen Andrew, photographed him and fed him. He was in Bournemouth, whilst attending to meetings to get himself housed. I was so relieved and happy to hear that he was ok. She sent me the photo and I anxiously waited for a chance to get out to Bournemouth and see him.

That chance came on Saturday just gone. I was chatting in the square with a number of the homeless and Anastasia suddenly called me and pointed. There was Andrew jogging across the square towards me saying *over dramatised* 'I've been wasting awwaayyyyyyy!!'As he always joked in the past that I would eventually feed him to death!!! We had a hug and I realised that I had never seen him stood up! He seemed tall and very skinny but he assured me that he wasn't starving to death and was doing well and looking into selling The Big Issue. I can't tell you enough that if it wasn't for this man, I wouldn't have become involved with Streetlight. I would be sat in my flat with my overpriced Marks and Spencer groceries harbouring prejudice about 'tramps and junkies' not out on Saturdays giving and receiving hugs and human kindness. Because when all is said and done, for me it's about showing kindness and love to a fellow human being. Not a label. Not 'hobo' not 'junkie' or 'smack head' or 'tramp'. Just human. A human being.

So thanks Andrew and thanks Anastasia because I have finally found something I LOVE to do.

Saturday night outreach walk.

Evening, Anastasia here, time for the big update. Watch the video at the end, pre warning, its very sad.

You might be better reading this status on the blog where I can do paragraphs and make it easier to read, Facebook doesn't like paragraphs.

So we arrived in Bournemouth at 745 to set up our food, clothes, hot drinks and toiletries. There was about 18 people waiting for us, they started helping us set up and before we knew it the amount of people queuing had doubled.

Once set up everything went smoothly everyone moved along the Que and took their sandwiches, chocolate, crisps, cakes, then their hot teas and coffees. Everyone was so grateful and as usual we were thanked with happy smiling faces and big hugs.

When we do our soup kitchens every one tends to stay and eat their food then have a little chat. Last night everyone wanted to chat, to suggest things, talk about fundraising ideas and general things going on in their lifes.

All in all we fed 53 people at our soup kitchen.

A few people wanted chats, two guys were really upset because someone had stolen their big issue magazines. They had no magazines and no money for the rest of the weekend so they were worried how they were going to make money. They are using a synthetic heroin which is helping them cut down, they are just using once a day, they were scared they would be sick on the streets and were extremely frustrated that someone had robbed from them. One of the guys had money in the big issue office but wasn't able to get it till Monday morning so another rough sleeper very kindly lent him the money so he could buy some more magazines , continue working and avoid being extremely sick on the streets. He is saving his money to get a private bed sit once he is inside the bed sit he can easily stay inside and get off the very small dosage of synthetic heroin he is on, but he will be very sick.

Another man was new to town and had been told to come and see me for food and a chat. He told me about himself, how he had only been here four days and how he and his husband were quite nervous about being on the streets. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about improving his situation on the streets but it turns out there was light at the end of the tunnel. Because he is sick he and his husband have been offered an unfurnished flat next Friday, he was unsure weather he should take it or wait for a furnished flat because he had no money to buy furniture. I reassured him we would all do our best to rally round and get lots of free furniture for him... so lets get on that guys, they need everything !


Dean was at our soup kitchen. Of course, why wouldn't he be ?! :) Hes much healthier, hes over his infection and hes so happy with his new guitar. Hes back to busking and has got his strength back so hes able to sing again which he is pleased about, he has a wonderful voice. Sadly hes still on the streets as he was totally failed by the system.


After our soup kitchen we packed up and went on outreach. I took Kaylee, Tony and Tracey. On outreach we saw 17 people and fed every single one of them.

We saw Paul with his lovely new hair cut and clean shaved face. He was in a good mood but was dripping in sweat because he has cut down his heroin use drastically ready to go into rehab. He was still so grateful for everything we had done for him the week before with putting him in a hotel and he was feeling very positive about his future.

Andy was really chatty and happy to see us. He was starving so pleased we had come. We chatted about everything and anything. He asked me how I was with my health (im rather sick, its lame) and we chatted about my health and about getting better etc (yeah I wish).

We came across leslie asleep in a doorway. I sat down and she woke up, she took food and a hot drink and we went onto chat about her heart condition. I cant remember the name of her heart condition but it drastically cuts her life expectancy. I asked her if anything new was going on and she admitted she had been diagnosed with endocardiatis but had left the hospital I begged her to go back to the hospital and get treatment. I reminded her of how sick I was and she remembered and nodded saying she will try do something about it. She was very sad and said she has just given up, she just wants to die, but im hoping our chats lifted her mood slightly and encouraged her to go get medical help.

Stuart was happy as usual, he played us a few songs on his harmonica.

Everyone else along the way that we saw was in a general good mood, they were all happy to see us and happy to receive food.

There was two new guys that had arrived in town a few hours before. They were asleep in a door way and had two beautiful staffies. We sat down and had a little chat with them and they said they had heard about us setting up our soup kitchen but were confused and thought it was 7am, they asked me to recommend a few places they could sleep on the streets tonight so I did and I encouraged them to go to the council to try and get help.


Thanks for reading.

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Love Anastasia, Manager and founder of Street Light Bournemouth

Saturday Night food drop 14th June 2014

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Saturday nights outreach was a massive success, we all left buzzing from what a fantastic night it was with the rough sleepers, everyone was in good spirits.

Mum cooked vegetable curry in two large pots. We boxed it up into the foil boxes and has 36 meals ready. Thorlak and Kerry had made sandwiches and Emma had bagged up biscuits, cakes and chocolate. We also had lots of fruit, the rough sleepers are going crazy for banana's right now. 

The car was packed full of bags of clothes that we have donated. We had everything that was possibly needed from smart suit jackets to simple jogging bottoms. We get some strange requests and were never sure what people want, one man was so happy with his suit jacket he laughed he would be the best dressed homeless man in town.

The tea's and coffee's were hot and ready to go... all we needed to do now was jump in the car, pick up Emma and head to town.

On arriving in town we met Tracey and her husband along with her 19 year old daughter and her boyfriend, they were there to help for the very first time. Kaylee had also come to help, we had a quick chat about everything we would be doing. I went over simple safeguarding rules, boundaries and just gave them simple instructions about what would go on tonight.

To be honest, theres not much to say. Its pretty self explanatory. The homeless aren't bad people, their extremely grateful for our help and were very safe around them.

On arrival a few guys came to the car to help us carry everything and help us set up. Once we reached the meeting point there was about 15 people already waiting us, eager to have chats, get a hot drink and eat a nice meal.

We soon had everything set up along the wall in a nice little production line.

Emma and Thorlak were handing out sandwiches and biscuits first, I was handing out hot meals and cutlery, Tracey and Tony were organizing hot drinks and Kaylee was organizing the clothes. Kerry was walking around being the photographer and Mum (Rachel) was milling around making sure everything was running smoothly.

With every meal we handed out we received big warm friendly hugs and wide smiles thanking us for making the effort and caring so much. Over time I have come to know all the people we see, so its great to see them so happy, and in such high spirit's.

Jessie came and told me Stevie couldn't make it because he was so poorly. He was being sick and could barely move. Stevie has just been told he has less than a year to live, he has cancer, and its taken over his whole body. Jessie was very upset. I handed her four meals, one for her, one for Stevie, one for nick and one for their friend ash, they all stay together and they look after each other especially Stevie.

Colin came along and gave me and Emma a big hug and said he was pleased to see us, he had only seen us yesterday but nonetheless he was pleased to see us. He was his usual happy smiley self and was enjoying the food a lot.

Matt and Josie came along for some food and to help us. Josie put on a little fashion show for everyone trying on the clothes and modelling some new dresses. She was so happy, so carefree, so pleased to have new clothes and so pleased to have us all in her life. Shes going through a hard time right now so it was great to see her so carefree and giggling.

We had loads of our regulars and we had a few newbies. Theres two new brothers in town, both who are selling the big issue. I had told them to come a few days before and they were so pleased they did. They got to leave with new sleeping bags and new clothes. They were cold at night so were planning on sleeping in two sleeping bags. Both brothers are clean, there no longer using heroin. They are doing their best to save the money they make from selling the big issue to get a deposit for a small flat, they'd like to get off the streets and start to live a more normal life now. 

All our rough sleepers left with new items of clothes. We had bags and bags full of things for them to choose from. The thing with living on the streets is that they need a never ending flow of new clothes. Living on the streets their clothes are getting so dirty, they tend to get a new outfit each week and dump the last outfit because its so dirty. With just a backpack there's not much room to carry much clothes. We are always looking for clothes, if you can donate any that would be fab. 

We always have dogs come to the food drop or we see them on our walks, many homeless people have dogs as they are a companion, a best friend, they dont judge you. We always carry dog food and I love dogs so theres always photos of me cuddling dogs.

Our food drop lasted about 2.5 hours because more and more people kept on turning up. Soon enough we had run out of hot meals and were just handing out sandwiches, biscuits, crisps and chocolate along with hot drinks and juice. No one moaned, they were happy to have anything to eat. It started to rain so we all ran for shelter but many of the rough sleepers stayed with us to the end and we just chatted and talked about how the world goes round. 

After our food drop we set off on our outreach walk to hand out the rest of the sandwiches we had. Sadly there were no hot meals for the people sat on the streets in the rest of town, but there will be, we will make sure theres a lot more hot meals from now on. When we started we were only feeding 10 people on a night. 

We bumped into Paul, who deserves a whole blog post to himself, so watch this space ! 

Kerry and Thorlak carried on the outreach with Kerry and Me, Emma and Mum (rachel) were with paul.

Thanks for reading and dont forget if you love it, share it ! 

Saturday night food drop

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Good morning here is an update on Saturday nights  food/clothes drop from Rachel.

"HAVE YOU GOT ANY LEGGINGS"

I cooked all afternoon then had  a mad rush to get all the dinners dished up and boxed up (including one gluten free meal) I picked Emma up with her two huge sacks full of clothes and food Emma's 4 year old son helps her prepare food every week and she tells him all about homeless people and the work she does. 

We drove to the usual meet up point but i had been unable to get J on her phone which was strange ( more later ) and Matt was gathering rough sleepers on his way through town so we had no helpers . Eventually Kerrie and Shane and a couple of rough sleepers arrived to help us.

We got to the square to find a few waiting for us and we started to set up suddenly we were surrounded by people wanting food , clothes and sleeping bags. A lot of hungry people and word was starting to spread about what we were doing.

As we were setting up I noticed J who I tried to call earlier, looking very worse for the wear I was shocked to be honest , she then burst into tears and Matt comforted her. I sat her down with a coffee and said i will spend time with you once we have dealt with the rush. Thankfully Josie arrived and took over looking after J for me it turned out her father had just died and naturally she was distraught. Josie did a fantastic job looking after her until we were able to come back to her later.

We started handing food out and told the people wanting clothes blankets etc that they would have to wait until we finished then we would go to the car . if it was special requests from Thursday we had with us in the square. despite being told this we were bombarded with " have you got any leggings" have you been to the car yet" my boyfriend needs shoes " to which we repeatedly replied yes we will get later.

P was waiting in the square and i hadn't seen him for ages so i was happy to see him and he was happy i had sent him a text and bought him chocolate and lemonade.he likes to feel special .

the problem was P wanted to talk and he can talk for England , so i asked if he could sit down and i would chat later as he wasn't in need he just wanted conversation.

I made the mistake of telling him that his photo had received lots of comments and Emma could show him the photo on her phone , oh dear he wanted to not only read but discuss all 67 comments . poor Emma she was also fending of the " have you got any leggings " lady every few seconds with a smile on her face all the time.

C arrived and i said wheres L i have clothes for her he looked at me sad and said can i talk to you please. so i got him a meal and sat on the floor with him . safe in the knowledge Kerrie Shane and Thorlock were dealing with food.

he said L had been sent to prison for 5 months and was naturally very upset and said he didn't think he could function without her.he discussed getting arrested himself so he could go to prison as well i pointed out this wouldn't help. he was very lost and upset and i have made arrangements to meet him in the week to see how we can help him . i also told him how he could get in touch with us and gave him a sleeping bag. whilst chatting to him D came along and introduced himself as he knows Anastasia. and wants to help the group . we exchanged numbers and he proved to be invaluable later .

i then fed a few more and gave P copious amounts of tea, only refusing him when we had packed up for the walk .

the elderly lady told me about one of our helpers she had met before and how lovely she was . so thanks Amanda for doing out reach on Friday for us.

I then spoke to K who doesn't normally come to the square but had requested a sleeping bag Thursday so came to collect. we had a nice chat and i gave him food. i noticed a little later he wasn't eating i asked why not he then told me he was very ill and needed a doctor. he has promised to go Monday and we swapped numbers so i can call him Monday to see how he is and we will catch up with him on Tuesday on out reach as well.

The man with the gluten free meal thanked me and was thrilled he had gluten free sandwiches biscuits and chocolate he left with a big smile on his face, Hes a lovely guy.

There were a lot of new faces last night some very young and I estimate about 25 or possibly more came to the square. 

I know we had approx 45/48 meals and i was told later they ran out on the walk . there had been a soup kitchen earlier in the evening, but clearly these people are hungry. 

We were still being asked the question" have you got any leggings " and have you been to the car yet" so we decided to pack up the guys for the walk and set them off on their way . thank you K T and S 

we were then going to head to the car to supply the large amount of ppl who wanted supplies. however before that we needed to attend to J who was still very distraught. . we tried to stand her up to walk to the car but she collapsed so we left her with Josie and D and said we would bring car to her.

i opened the " shop " at the car and most people took what they needed and left, but the leggings and shoes girls wanted to look in every bag . eventually i had to say ok that's it we have to go. they did have bags full of clothes by then.

we said goodbye to Paul who was excited as he is going to come and do a radio interview with us on Tuesday and he had a whole set of new clothes, and im washing his trainers 

we drove to get J and D carried her to the car Matt and Josie piled in and we drove to where J and hubby sleep . this is where i had to say an emotional goodbye to J . its 7 years tomorrow since my own father died suddenly so i know exactly how she feels. she just kept saying i love you and Anastasia . we left her with the AMAZING Josie and Matt who later text to say they had found husband and they were looking after them . thank you Josie and Matt .

Emma and i had one more job before we headed home and me to work .

A one of the rough sleepers likes to see a face he knows on the walks so we took his food to him , i waited in the car whilst Emma ran to him and had a quick chat .

An interesting chaotic but very rewarding evening. lots of follow ups and some appeals to your good selves to follow .

but for now have a lovely day and if you see a rough sleeper smile say hello buy a drink , have a chat they love to talk .

Rachel