More Yarmouth churches give Living Room for homeless 

Great Yarmouth’s Living Room project, set up by local churches to provide a warm bed for rough sleepers, will expand to three venues this winter, and is seeking more volunteers to help. Tony Rothe reports

 
‘The Living Room’ was set up last January by local churches and organisations working in partnership in order to provide a safe, warm place for Great Yarmouth’s rough sleepers during the cold winter months. It was open every Saturday night until the end of March and provided visitors with a hot meal, a place to chat with volunteers and a warm safe place for the night. The project had several regular visitors, with increasing numbers referred from local organisations
 
This winter, The Living Room will open for three nights a week in 3 different church locations - the Minster Mission, Park Baptist Church, and Kingsgate Church
 
Anna Heydon, Imagine Norfolk Together worker for Great Yarmouth, said: “Last winter we had up to 20 volunteers fulfilling several different roles, from cooking and preparing meals for the visitors to playing board games and chatting with them. Our Project Co-ordinator also meets with the visitors during the week to support them with making steps towards permanent accommodation, where appropriate”
 
“This year we are going to need more volunteers so that we are able to cover the extra nights. We offer a hot meal and overnight bed for up to 10 visitors a night, plus breakfast in the morning. However, volunteers will not necessarily need to stay overnight, as there is a range of different roles available”
 
One of last year's volunteers described The Living Room in this way: “Great experience. Lovely to see people engaging over activities and meal with each other. Roll on autumn”
 

Please contact Anna Heydon at anna.heydon@togethernorfolk.org.uk if you would like more information or to sign up to volunteer

Visit : https://www.cuf.org.uk/together-norfolk
 
To read the reflections from from volunteers from April 2017 about The Living Room, click here
 
this article also appeared on Network East Norfolk