The BIGGEST thank you and summary EVER !

Its come to the end of 2014, so its about time I write a summary of the year. I cant believe its been almost a year since I started streetlight. Crrrraaazzzy !!!!!

My first thank you is Tom.

 Tom was the first person to start doing outreach with me back in February. It was cold and raining, every week, but we carried on. We had nothing then. Tom used to cook a curry in a big pan and carry it around town dishing it out on paper plates.  We would pour coffee out of a small flask. I remember once tom made 'posh coffee' with caramel syrup and no one wanted it !

On our second night doing outreach we ended up in the police station. Long story short we broke up a fight and had to give statements, what an experience.

We were soon joined by Amanda, Christina, Keenan, and Karen on outreach. Thanks a lot ladies and lovely little Keenan !

In time we started our soup kitchen in Bournemouth Square outside Debenhams, much to the councils dismay, ;)

Thank you Emma, Thorlak, Kerry, Kaylee, Shane, Cassie, Natalie, Jade, Ally, Tracy and Tony for helping us make that run so smoothly before we moved into the lower gardens.

Hotel stays

A & P stayed in a hotel for 3 days when A's 6 year old granddaughter was on life support machine. This gave A the chance to get cleaned up and travel back and forth from the hospital to see his grand daughter.

A stayed in a hotel again for 3 days a few weeks later when his granddaughter passed away.

K & S stayed in a hotel for a night when their dog sadly died, she ran onto a train track. They had another couple of nights stay in a hotel a few months later and K was attacked and hospitalized. There was NO help from the council, social OR police. K was sent back onto the streets, so streetlight paid for her to rest up in a hotel and re coop.

P stayed in a hotel for a few nights when he was detoxing from heroin.

This is where he was sleeping when he was on the streets.

Dean was in hospital for 3 weeks with clots on his lung and leg. He was returned to the streets with again, no help from the council. He phoned us and asked us for help. We drove to Bournemouth to see him and he was so frail. He could barely walk and had lost so much weight. We paid for him to stay in a hotel for 5 days. Dean now says we saved his life.

People that are housed 

J , K, K, M, T, A, D are all now privately housed. After lots of hard work, and patience, we managed to get them all off the streets and they now have a roof over their heads and are moving on in the right direction.

The ' councils worst nightmare' soup kitchen in the gardens 

Now this is a very controversial subject. But I still stand my ground, and my argument is still the same and will continue to be. I know the council will be reading this, so lets just get this straight. I do not agree with the homeless being hidden away in car parks. Never have, never will. I don't think its fair.

We constantly had the council on our backs saying I was ruining tourism. I was ruining tourism because I was feeding the homeless in the lower gardens. The homeless should be hidden away, so the tourists and locals cant see them. Because if we hide them away in car parks then they just don't exist and the council don't have to house them, right ?! ;)

Thank you very much to Ingrid, Elisa, Sally, Bev, Esther and Paula for running Tuesday lunch times in the gardens every week. For cooking the food, serving and making all of our homeless friends happy.

Thank you to Kaylee, Cassie, Tony, Tracey, Gary, Emma, Libby, Mandy, Georgina, Elisa, Christina, Keenan, Scott, Hannah, Jackie, Alex for helping run all the soup kitchens on Saturday evenings in the gardens.

Outreach

On Saturday nights we do outreach. Outreach simply means we walk the streets from 9 pm till midnight feeding and clothing the homeless who are sat on the streets. Kaylee now runs outreach since I started working full time. Along with Kaylee its Georgina, Nicole, Rose, Caroline and Chloe... Thanks ladies, your doing a great job !

Jason !!!

Jason, and tammy, what can I say, Your both amazing. Thank you so much Jason for having the homeless in your barber shop and treating them like any other customer and giving them the most wonderful experience in your barber shop. They honestly come out looking like new men.

Thank you for cutting everyone hair at our big roast dinner and for continuing to do so all this time.

We all at streetlight appreciate it so much and P absolutely loves you !

The big roast dinner

What a success. It was hectic, it was crazy, there was enough roasties to feed a thousand people, everyone left full and happy. Thank you Karen, Ashley, Ashleigh, Lauren, Simon, Vicky, Donna, Stuart, Casper, Christina, Tom, Rachel, Ingrid, Claire, Becky, Sharon, Jason, Tammy.

The Christmas meal 

Again, such a success. Everyone had a fantastic meal and everyone received Christmas presents.

Firstly a massive thank you to Slug and Lettuce Bournemouth for letting us use your venue, for giving all our friends free soft drinks and generally being so great and welcoming.

Thanks to all my volunteers, it was a great day.

Vonnie, Nick, Tracey, Debbie, Caroline, Chloe, Rosie, Georgina, Rachel, Charlotte, Luke

Sadly this year we have lost four homeless people on the streets. RIP George, Paddie, Eddie and Lou.

Here's George.

George sadly died in April. The 'truth' about his death will sadly never be known, he was the victim of the hit and run in dudmoore lane, Christchurch. There's a LOT more to it than that though. George was a fantastic man. He was a hard worker and one of the kindest guys I have ever met. 

Auctions

Thank you everyone who has donated items to our auctions, there's so many of you to thank, and I'll be honest, I have forgotten who you all are ! So here's just a big thank you all of you. Everything you donated for the auction helped us raise a lot of money. Of course, thank you everyone for bidding and taking part.

The underground

Thank you to all the staff at the underground in Boscombe for holding two fantastic fundraisers for us. One very fun Caberet night and a ladies pamper evening. Both were very successful evenings and helped us so much.

Thank you to Maria (argan oil), Becky (brow waxing) Sandra (hand crafts) Erica (aloe vera), Fleur (nails) Jaymee (nails) Jade( make up) Tracey (reiki) Vikay ( Massage) Tracy (Facials) for all giving up your time on the night to help us raise money !

Donaters... Is that even a word !?

Of course I owe a big big big thank you to EVERYONE who has ever donated. Wether its money, clothes, toileteries or your time to pick things up and drop things off. I cant thank every single one of you individually because I just dont have the memory of an elephant, and it would take me 6 months to write all your names up. Without all of you lovely people donating cash, clothes, tents, sleeping bags, toileteries etc we would of had nothing. The homeless would of had nothing. SO THANK YOU ALL. Pat yourself on the backs. I dont do hugs ;)

Christmas eve

On Christmas Eve, Steve, Aaron and AntHony put on a fantastic open mic fundraiser at oneils. Thank you guys so much for organising the event and all the musicians. Thanks everyone who gave up their time for free. Our wonderful Dean, whos street homeless, had a set. He sang 7 songs and was amazing.

Altogether we raised £318 !!!

Thank you all.

Thank you Jason for coming down and donating £80 and a car full of clothes.

Of course, we cant forget... JOSIE AND MATT GOT ENGAGED !!!!

So thats the end of 2014 folks, thanks for supporting us, please continue to support us, continue to share our page and volunteer with us.

Anastasia, (founder of streetlight) and all the team.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!