National homelessness charity, Crisis, is making an urgent appeal for volunteers to support with a wide range of roles across London throughout the festive season and into January. Crisis at Christmas, now entering its sixth decade, has become a fixture of the festive season, offering people much-needed respite from the hardship and trauma of homelessness.
This year, the charity will be providing hotel accommodation in London to more than 400 people who would otherwise be sleeping rough. Crisis will also open four separate day centres for people in insecure, temporary accommodation offering a range of services including health and wellbeing checks, hot food and toiletries, companionship and an activities programme.
Yet Crisis at Christmas is only possible through the collective effort of thousands of volunteers who give up their time to make a real difference. The charity says it is greatly in need of hotel assistant volunteers to help welcome guests into its services and help them settle in, as well as chefs to enable guests to enjoy fresh, home cooked meals. Advice volunteers are also sought to ensure that guests receive the right information and guidance to access services.
In an important step, Crisis will be extending its hotel provision until 25th January so that its caseworkers can provide more prolonged, one-to-one support to individuals who need extra help securing accommodation or accessing vital services that can enable them to end their homelessness for good. This means that, unlike previous years, Crisis is seeking volunteers who are also available to help in January to provide key services and support beyond the festive period. The charity is particularly in need of volunteers to support with night shifts to ensure guests can access crucial services at our hotel accommodation both day and night.
Crisis is also in need of a range of specialist volunteers across its hotels and day centre services who can help guests receive access to vital health and wellbeing services and feel valued as a person. Access to the right healthcare and support can make a great difference to our guests’ wellbeing and confidence. These roles include hairdressers, barbers, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, opticians, podiatrists and wellbeing practitioners.
If you are a qualified practitioner and can offer your time this Christmas or in January, you could make a big difference to people who are homeless who often struggle to access critical services because they lack a fixed address.
Michael Phillips, Head of Volunteering at Crisis, said:
“Crisis at Christmas began in the 1970s because a group of dedicated volunteers saw the reality of life on the streets and decided it was intolerable. They provided people with much-needed respite from the trauma and indignity of homelessness at Christmas, and the service has been going ever since.
It’s a mammoth, unique operation that has become a special fixture of the festive season – but none of it would be possible without our wonderful volunteers. Behind every life-changing moment for our guests at Christmas are our volunteers, each and every one committed to ending homelessness. I’d urge anyone who is interested in being part of our Crisis at Christmas community to get in touch.”
Jean Spurgeon, Crisis volunteer, said:
“Since volunteering with Crisis, I’ve begun to enjoy Christmas again. For many years I never particularly enjoyed the festive season but having been a general volunteer since 2015, it’s become something I look forward to each year. There’s lots of different ways to get involved and it’s great to help out with a variety of tasks to make guests feel welcomed and comfortable. The best thing about volunteering is the camaraderie between the guests and volunteers – it really is great fun and I love getting to talk to all the guests. It’s such a fulfilling experience to see the difference you can make for guests through things like hot meals, a good night’s rest and the chance to chat and make friends.”
To volunteer with Crisis this Christmas register now via crisis.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/
