Time to Shine and the Whitechapel Centre

An event for people experiencing homelessness and/or recovery from  substance use is taking place at St Luke’s Church on Fri 24^th May between 11 AM and 4.00 PM. 

Any service users that attend will be given a time slot to perform – be it read out a poem, sing a song, play an instrument etc.  Art work will also be on display. 

The event is an opportunity to celebrate people’s strengths, and give those who would like it an opportunity to share their performances. 

Between 10.00am and 4.00pm we will have a stall at the event where information about our services can be sourced.

We are also hoping that the Kabin Krew (Whitechapel’s drama group) will be performing the song which they are taking to the Royal Opera House.

This look like a wonderful and fun event, and will hopefully be another opportunity for Whitechapel to show the many 'hidden' talents that we have!

If it is raining the event will be held at The Basement so we’ll keep you posted re a possible change of venue.

For more information on our services, or to report a homeless person, please see our website at www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk.

A Celebration of Our Lives

Friday 25th May 2012

@ St Luke’s (Bombed Out) Church

11am-4pm

Everybody Welcome!!!

Bringing together Homeless Agencies and

Recovering Communities

Asda at The Whitechapel Centre

Once a month Lorraine from Asda store on Utting Avenue, comes in to our Enablement Centre with food, donated by her store, to cook breakfast for our service users.

This service has proved to be extremely popular, with people attending regularly, and numbers growing!


 

Lorraine in the kitchen, with our cook, Karen, aided as ever by one of our hard working volunteers. 

   

Here at The Whitechapel Centre we aim to provide a number off different services to help those who are, or at risk of being, homeless within our community.

Our Enablement Centre is just a part of the many services that we provide throughout Liverpool, and it's surrounding areas.

We are currently leading the support of the local councils in Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens, Halton and the Wirral in their No Second Night Out campaign.

For more information on this, and our other services please see our website at http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/ or call us on 0151 207 7617.

Accomodation Successes - April 2012

Thanks to alot of of hard work under taken by staff and volunteers, The Whitechapel Centre has found accommodation solutions for 63 individuals during the month of April! 

These include reconnecting individuals to their home town or country, finding rough sleepers emergency hostel accommodation and  supporting people to return to their family home.

It also includes cases where people have moved people into more permanent options such as Housing Association or Private Rented tenancies. 

Whitechapel Centre staff and volunteers aren’t working to a target – we’re simply ensuring that vulnerable people in Liverpool and Merseyside are able to access a roof and find a home!

Working in partnership with a wide range of other agencies, The Whitechapel Centre delivers long term solutions to homelessness through a variety of different projects including Resettlement & Housing Support, Hub & Homelessness Resolution Service, Outreach, Street Resettlement & Bond Scheme and our Enablement Centre.

The wide range of the services that we provide enable us to provide a broad range of support services that aim to meet a diverse range of needs. If you, or someone you know needs our help please either drop in at our Enablement Centre on Langsdale Street or fill in our referral form here http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/make-a-referral.html ; or if they are rough sleeping call 0300 123 2041 to speak to a member of our Outreach team.

Get Ready! Barclays (part 2) and YMCA

During the last 2 weeks the Get Ready! team have been very busy, firstly through returning to Barclays Bank plc for their second training session.

Again the staff at Barclays were thrilled with all the hard work that was carried out, rewarding members of Get Ready! with a certificate to mark their achievements.

Secondly 12 members of the Get Ready! group, went to the YMCA in Liverpool, where they attended the Ready for Work induction.

These 12 people have attended for Get Ready! sessions, meaning they are ready to move onto the next step in their journey.

There they were given a talk by David Smallshaw from Ready for Work  on what prepartory steps needed to be taken in the lead up to returning to work.

Training was also provided in the form of new IT skills and how to write a CV, along with general advice on how best to present yourself for interview.

The next step forward are the two week placements that are coming up, providing all those who are ready with experience of being back at work.

Exciting times ahead for all the Get Ready! team!

Flowers For The Titanic and The Whitechapel

Starting on Friday 20th April, through to Sunday 22nd of April, a number of flowers displays were arranged at St Francis Xavier's Church, Langsdale Street, Everton to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic.

As the parish administrator of SFX, Brother Ken Vance, is one of our dedicated team of trustees, we have very close links with the church, and as such The Whitechapel Centre was given the honour of arranging a display.


Five of our service users, along with two of our art teachers, Joan and Carol, arranged some beautiful displays that were then placed at the end of the pews.

Along with the flower displays various other items from that period, photos, and titanic memorabilia were displayed.

A young, soon to be Jesuit Priest, Francis Browne, had been on the first part of the Titanic's journey from Southampton to Ireland, and had taken many photographs of the ship that were used in the display. The only reason that he hadn't remained aboard was because his order had forbade him, perhaps divine intervention?

 Something Francis may have worn

There were many beautiful displays throughout the church, and various concerts talks were given throughout the weekend to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

For those service users from The Whitechapel that took part it provided a wonderful opportunity to show their creativity, and to display their work for others to enjoy.

One of our regular art teachers aiding with the presentation of The Whitehchapel Centre's display.

Kelly from The Whitechapel Centre with her beautiful display.












The whole weekend was extermely successful, with the church being full throughout the three days. It was a wonderful way to remember the many lives that had been lost all those years ago.

Cold Weather Shelter 2011-12 - THE RESULTS!

The Whitechapel centre is asked each year by Liverpool City Council to organise a cold weather provision for rough sleepers, beginning at the start of December, and finishing on the 1^st of April.

The provision consists of two tiers;

Tier 1 is a night shelter which is based at St Stephen's church on Crown Street in Liverpool 8. The shelter opened when the predictive weather forecast indicated that the temperature will hit 0° or below for three consecutive nights.

 As well as having a warm safe place to spend the night, rough sleepers who present there are provided with hot soup and other refreshments.

Tier 2 consists of a dedicated staff team providing support for people who have accessed the night shelter with the aim of finding solutions for there homelessness. This is achieved by assessing people’s needs and liaising with housing providers such as hostels and private landlords to provide solutions.

This year the night shelter has been open for 13 nights and we have found solutions for 40 people. Many of these people are from socially excluded groups and have complex needs, and without the cold weather provision they could have been faced with spending the cold winter months sleeping rough.

This is a fabulous achievement, a real success for Paul and his team, who worked long hours in order to get such great results.

For more information on our Cold Weather Service, or any of the other services that we provide, please see our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/

Get Ready! The Story So Far....

The Get Ready! Programme aims to give homeless indivdiuals a head start into starting to think about employment.

So far 62 people have signed up to the program, 48 of those have been inducted and supported onto the intial assement.

16 of those people have comleted 4 or more of the BITC courses that have been running, recieving a certificate at the end of each course.

We hope that most of those who have joined will go on to join the Ready For Work course at the end of it.

Above all, those that have taken part so far have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and have made a great impression on the companies involved, and us here at The Whitechapel Centre.

For more information please contact Pauline Baysan, Cath Brown or Julie Prendergast on 0151 207 7617

For more information on services at The Whitechapel Centre please go to our website http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk