Horley Team Ministry's ran the winter night shelter at Bart's for six Fridays from the end of January to the beginning of March. The shelter was run in partnership with the Renewed Hope Trust and we helped 10 people in all. Please pray for the guests as they search for housing or settle into housing found for them already.
At Bart's we had 132 volunteer slots to fill and God provided! We had 27 volunteers from our three churches, including 15 people getting involved for the first time. They were joined by 16 others from elsewhere to fill the shifts.
Thank you everyone for your help in making it a success. I don't really want to single anyone out, but my special thanks go to Margo for sharing her experience of being Wilf's venue co-ordinator, Penny for being our keyholder and Jeffrey and Michael for making sure we had heating every Friday!
On the funding side, we raised more than £1,800, far surpassing our £1,000 target. Bart's is keeping £500 to cover heating and electricity costs and other expenses. The rest will go to the Renewed Hope Trust for their work throughout the year.
About half of the funds came from school and parish Christmas services and other community donations.
Winter Night Shelter Thanksgiving Service
We held a thanksgiving service on May 22nd to thank God for the shelter and to hear from the guests and the charity about what's happened next. We also presented a cheque for £1,300 to the Renewed Hope Trust made up of donations from the community and church members.