December at Ben's Centre
As the first snow of the winter has fallen, and made Wilkinson Street look wonderfully festive, we thought it was important to share what we do over the festive period to make it extra special for our clients.
On the 22nd of December we will hold our client Christmas meal. This meal is kindly sponsored by Diversify in Rotherham. We will give clients a great home cooked Christmas dinner, games and carol singing. For many clients, Christmas Day isn’t experienced in the same way; some are homeless, unsettled or alone and many won’t receive gifts or a big meal. We are the fortunate recipients of gifts to hand out to guests from the Sheffield Shoebox Appeal. These boxes are filled with useful items such as toiletries and socks, as well as luxury items and treats like chocolates, games or gift cards. We will be giving these out throughout our last open week in December and at our Christmas meal.
We close Christmas Eve and hand over to the capable hands of HARC from the 25th of December to the 1st of January. They will be operating a takeaway service from Victoria Hall in Sheffield this year, with the hope to allow people in the building, dependant on Covid. People can collect food, hot drinks and warm clothing from HARC during this period. Ben’s Centre will be back open on the 3rd of January.
When cold weather hits, Sheffield City Council provides emergency accommodation to anyone sleeping rough. If you are concerned about someone sleeping rough, please get in contact with ourselves or one of the other amazing Outreach teams in Sheffield, who can make sure they provide support if it is wanted. Visit this great page for more info on Outreach in Sheffield: “Help us Help Street Outreach Team”. Different charities manage to provide outreach for a full day schedule from the early hours until the early evening. You can also contact Sheffield City Council ‘Weather Watch’ directly on 0114 273 6306 during office hours or 0800 7311 689 outside them. If calling on someone’s behalf, please do this when you’re with the person as they will need to provide some information about themselves when discussing emergency accommodation.
Ben’s Centre provides hot drinks and a warm meal every weekday. This is usually served about 12.30pm but we will always try and rustle up something for late arrivals. We open at 10.30am and can also provide hot drinks and a light breakfast at this time. The centre shuts at 2.30pm but hot drinks are still available from external outreach teams in the city centre after this time. For more information on when and what services are open please visit this helpful guide by Help us Help: Services Updates - Info Sheet 16 11 2020.docx - Google Docs .
We are so grateful to the people that have made special donations to us this Christmas. Don’t forget any donation, big or small, gets an entry into our Christmas Competition to win big prizes from local businesses. Visit the competition page here.
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones from all at Ben’s Centre.
