Our Charity Partners
-
Glassdoor
As London’s largest emergency winter night shelter, Glass Door (formerly WLCHC) provides a safe, warm place to sleep for up to 100 men and women a night in partnership with churches across Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea, Barnes and Putney. Homeless guests also access advice, food, showers and laundry facilities year-round from the Chelsea drop-in day centre. Glass Door not only saves lives by providing refuge from the cold, they also help homeless men and women find more stable futures.
St Columba’s has been supporting Glass Door since they began in November 2000; we are one of the founding member churches of the charity. St Columba’s hosts a shelter every Sunday night from November through to April, providing a venue and team of volunteers. A typical evening would require you to be there from 6pm to 9.30pm. Roles will include cooking, meeting, greeting and generally looking after our guests. We are looking for a pool of volunteers as we are aware that people will not be able to commit to volunteering every week. The shelter provides 35 homeless people with a place to sleep, a hot meal, breakfast and a person to talk to – people who would otherwise be cold, wet and lonely sleeping on the streets. If you are interested in volunteering or would like any further information, please contact the Church Office on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
For more information on GlassDoor please visit www.glassdoor.org.uk.
-
RESTART is a small, London-based charity whose objective is to help homeless men and women to break the cycle of homelessness, move from the streets, confront the issues obstructing their futures and return to independent living, feeling empowered and resilient.
Services
Drop-in:
Whilst the provision of food is only one component of the support offered by RESTART, the drop-in is a key part of its operations as it enables guests, volunteers, mentors and staff to get to know one another, share information and give advice, whilst enjoying a hot meal together weekly.
When? Friday evenings: 6.30pm - 8.30pm Where? St. Columba's
Pont Street
Knightsbridge
SW1X 0BDWho? All are welcome (homeless, temporarily housed, permanently housed). Mentoring and Access to Counselling:
Once getting to know guests at the drop-in, a range of other services are available to guests. The Mentoring Programme involves staff and trained volunteers being paired with a guest to assist, support and advise with practical matters including CV-writing, interview practice, budgeting and access to benefits. This personalised relationship ideally lasts months - 1 year to allow for sustainable changes to be be made.
In partnership with counsellors and psychotherapists from 96 Harley Street who provide pro-bono support, RESTART are able to help and refer guests with mental health issues for professional assessments or therapy.
Employment and Accommodation Support:
RESTART’s ‘Taskforce’ Programme is ideal for guests seeking to work. Approximately 80 hours of voluntary ‘tasks’ are undertaken by guests, in a workplace setting, to develop confidence, work-readiness, achieve a good reference and receive feedback and guidance from local employers.
Upon completion, mentors/staff will support with job applications, the transition back into work and in sourcing and securing temporary or permanent accommodation. Once guests have moved in, regular visits to guests in their home or near their workplace allows advice to be given about savings, utilities payments, cost-effective shopping and general catch up.
-
Borderline
Information coming soon.