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Author Archives: Matt
Meet a volunteer: Rosie
I have been volunteering at shelter from the storm for nearly four years. As an animator, I began volunteering as a productive break from the desk and that old cliché of feeling like commercial work was bit soulless and wanting to help people!
From my first shift my preconceptions of homeless people were shattered. I’ve met guests from all kinds of backgrounds, with very different reasons for needing help. There is an assumption that all homeless people are addicts or alcoholics, removed from society, the reality is very different.
Working at the shelter never feels like a chore, I love being there, it’s such a warm, positive, place. As it’s small and independent the approach is always very personal and I’ve enjoyed working closely with guests to help them move on. It’s great when we successfully support someone into work and/or their own accommodation.
My time at the shelter has also had a really positive influence on my life. I’ve recently worked on a series of portrait projects with some of the guests, resulting in an exhibition (find out more here) to challenge people ideas on homelessness. The response that this work has received so far has given the push to take my amateur photography further and I am about to embark on an MA course and am taking on more photography work.
Fyfe Dangerfield to open Shelter from the Storm photography exhibition: 28 November
Shelter from the Storm, together with Mother, present a night of great music on 28 November to launch a unique photography show exploring the reach of homelessness in London.
Fyfe Dangerfield, talented singer-songwriter and lead singer of the Guillemots, will be playing an intimate music set in aid of Shelter from the Storm from 6.30pm to 10.00pm on 298 November at Downstairs at Mother (tickets available here).
This will mark the official opening of a unique photography exhibition, which features a series of portrait photographs of residents at Shelter from the Storm, a night shelter in North London. The photographs will shock many viewers, as they are the antithesis of the gritty images of rough sleepers with which we are bombarded in the run up to Christmas. They show a diverse group of people, many of them young, bright and beautiful, exploring the reach of the problem in the capital. Many of them have jobs, or are desperately seeking work, and simply cannot afford the capitals rising rent prices.
The photographs are the work of local photographer, Rosie Holtom, who has volunteered at Shelter from the Storm for four years. “Working at the shelter completely shattered my preconceptions of homelessness. I have met some fascinating people from all kinds of backgrounds, with incredible life stories. I wanted to take simple portraits that showed these proud, brave people for what they are without focussing on their homelessness.”
Tickets for the opening event at Downstairs at Mother, 10 Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DD are available for £20 online here – all money raised will go to the shelter. The photography exhibition will run from 24 November to 3 December 2013
Meet a volunteer: Hazel
Whatever Hazel was expecting when she first came to the Shelter From The Storm, it wasn’t what she found. “It has opened my eyes to so many things,” she says. “I have met all kinds of people there, with all kinds of backgrounds. It has shown me a side of homelessness you don’t ordinarily see.” She loves talking to the guests, and was shocked to learn how just hard life had been for the some of them. “I have met some people who were sleeping rough when they were heavily pregnant, or had broken backs.”
It has helped her too. Hazel is 34, and says she is at “a bit of a crossroads”. She spent ten years working as a shoe designer for Vivienne Westwood, but recently quit. She had never volunteered before, but she saw an advert online and thought she would give it a go. Now she is also working a yoga teacher. “I feel like I can help people that way. Talking to the guests at Shelter has made me realise that yoga can help everybody.” The volunteering work, she says, came at just the right time. “Because Shelter is such a positive place. Going there, it made me feel like anything is possible in life.”
Guest stories: Nigel
Nigel’s been with the shelter for three weeks and back in the UK for six. Born in Maidenhead to east London parents, he left the country when he was younger – first moving to France for a girl, and then onto the US, where he stayed for 15 years. He describes living on the streets in San Francisco being like a mad house. He had no problems, except for a 10-strong gang that stole his backpack once. He was lucky and managed to get through. He was a barfly and moved to Key West and there he went to rehab – first to receive and then to help deliver it for the next three years as a volunteer. He met all sorts of people and when speaking with him, you get a glimpse of what he’s experienced – he’s had an interesting, difficult life and he tells his story without sadness or anger. It’s a story you want to hear.
He’s been a nomad for so long and while he’s glad to be back in England, he describes it as being “a bit frustrating”. Through the new residency test, he isn’t able to receive benefits for three months. He was homeless for three weeks before No Second Night Out managed to secure a space with us. He likes the shelter, the food and people are nice and he describes it as a godsend.
He’s working hard to find a job – he’s worked in various jobs from fruit picking, to factory work to odd jobs – so he can gather some money together and find a home. He keeps optimistic.
You’re invited to our annual fundraising dinner and art auction
Get your tickets now to Shelter from the Storm’s Annual Fundraising Dinner and Art Auction on Tuesday 19 November at the Duke of Cambridge Organic Pub in Islington.
The Duke Of Cambridge Organic Pub is famous for its exquisite organic food and drink, seasonal, carefully sourced from independent producers, whilst keeping the environmental impact as low as possible. The evening will begin with a champagne reception at 6.30pm, then at 7pm Geetie Singh MBE and her team will be serving a delicious three course organic feast accompanied by the finest organic wine.
Your host on the evening is the inimitable Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedian and broadcaster, who will act as auctioneer for the second portion of the evening.After dinner you will have the opportunity to hear from the founders of Shelter from the Storm and a short film about the shelter will be screened. Desert and coffee will be served and then the most exciting portion of the evening kicks off when you will have the opportunity bid on unique works of art donated to the shelter by internationally acclaimed artists. All the money raised will go directly to helping us keep the shelter up and running. Follow this link to book your tickets.
Congratulations to our lovely apprentices
We’ve had two guests graduate from Pret recently – here’s a little slideshow to celebrate all our guests who’ve successfully been through the Pret apprenticeships scheme.
We heart fundraisers: September
The following people are putting the fun into fundraising and helping us raise some much needed funds for the shelter: heroes
- Olivia Fairweather, Tom Hamborg, Fiona Watt, Sarah Parkes and Mary and Ruthie who are all running the half-marathon in the Richmond Running Festival on 22 September
- The legends of Domino Record Co are doing a half-marathon on 5 October
- Greg Matthews is doing the tough mudder on 5 October
- Andrea Christofides who took part in the Cambridge Spartan Obstacle Race in early September
Meet a volunteer: Rachel
As Rachel prepares to say goodbye to SFTS before returning to university, one guest’s story remains stuck in her mind: “There was this Ugandan lady, let’s call her B; she was in her sixties and had a heart condition. She finally chose to be repatriated – I guess she wanted to die in her home country – I helped raise funds to pay for her journey, and I went to the airport to see her off. I don’t know what happened in the end, but I’ve never forgotten her.
Londoner Rachel is full of energy, and her enthusiasm is infectious. No wonder that after joining as a volunteer in early 2011, she soon took on more responsibility, becoming a shift leader and a key worker, which meant closer attention to individual cases.
Having completed a B.A. in theology, Rachel found that her first jobs – mainly in administration – involved hardly any direct personal contact. After arriving at the shelter in early 2011, however, she developed a passion for working with people. “I learnt how to communicate, how to be patient, and I began to understand how people become homeless.
While she finds every case worrying, it’s the younger homeless that cause her particular concern: “I know that I myself am just three steps away from where they are.” Her experience at the shelter helped Rachel find employment as a social worker, which in turn has led to her decision to leave London and study full-time for an M.A. in Social Work.
Rachel likes to think that, even though work at the shelter can feel like fire-fighting, it offers an honest approach with no false promises, and – above all – a safe environment: “It’s a home.” What will she miss? “All the guests,” she says, “I got to know people well, and on their terms.
Guest stories: Nidal
My name is Nidal, I’m half Lebanese, half French. I was born and raised in the Congo. I graduated in journalism and for seven years I worked for two big French and Arabic newspapers. Three years ago I came to London to work for my Masters degree – the first two years were perfect, but then tragedy struck and my beloved Dad died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack.
My life went into tailspin. I started using drugs to ease the pain of my sorrow and before I knew it I was a slave, a prisoner trapped in my own body. With every smoke of my pipe, I was losing a friend, my family’s trust and support and finally my accommodation. I was homeless, chasing dealers in the street, thinking only about my next hit. I was surrounded by junkies and crack heads and I was petrified and ashamed to realize that I was becoming like them. After losing everything my freedom didn’t mean much; desperate for drugs I shoplifted and all I remember is the cold handcuffs on my wrists and the stinky smell of the previous criminals in the police cell.
I was in custody for five days but it felt like five years – I begged God to stop the agony of cold turkey. When I was taken to court for sentencing I was staggered to find that the judge refused conditional bail unless I had an address where I could be electronically tagged. All my friends turned their backs on me, how could this be happening to me, I’m a journalist, a student, a nice middle class Lebanese girl and I was going to spend the next month in Holloway.
I thought my life was over, but then they told me a charity called Shelter from the Storm had agreed to give me a bed. After three weeks in the shelter I am overwhelmed by the love and support of the amazing volunteers. I don’t feel lonely or scared, I am surrounded by people who live their life to give to those less fortunate and for that I can’t thank them enough; thank them for giving me my life back.