Phoebe was introduced to the shelter by her dancer friend, Andrew, who also volunteers.

She has been with us for six months and is proud to newly have become a key worker and looks forward to hopefully being a useful ally to the guests. She also really enjoys working with the other volunteers, who she finds are a very special group of no-nonsense, diverse people. She is in awe of Sheila and Louis, who set up and run the shelter – and wishes that the world was full of more people who had their energy and balls. She is proud (and a bit surprised, never liking doing her own) to be a demon bed-maker, and lives in fear of being called up for cooking duty. She salutes all the chefs who each night conjure up, from what can be eclectic ingredients, a meal that is happily wolfed down by guests and volunteers together.

She feels absolutely privileged to be a part of the shelter community which does vital work and where at any one time – and often all at the same time – there can be a noisy pool game, intense philosophy class, industrial macaroni cheese production, important life-changing conversations and honky-tonk piano playing.

“I guess it’s the guests that make volunteering so worthwhile. I can be in bad mood after a hard day at work but as soon as I step inside the shelter, I can’t take the smile off my face.

“I did the overnights for over a year and I loved it; I wanted to become more involved in the running of the shelter so asked if I could become a key worker. I found this amazingly satisfying and I feel I’ve learned so much from the guests and the other volunteers.

“It started me thinking about a career change and I’m just about to start work with a major London charity where I’ll be working with ex offenders. Shelter from the Storm has helped me grow as a person and I can’t wait to start my new job.”