M&S Wokingham

We offer free hot meals and a safe place for people who are homeless, lonely or in need. Open seven nights a week from 10pm to 8am during November to May Dinner served at 10.30pm, breakfast served at 7.am Summer opening 7pm to 10pm most nights (no overnights) An opportunity to respond to the increasing homeless issue and our response to support folk of all ages locally. We set up originally in 2015 as a winter project, since then the demand has been incredible and we daily feed around 25 customers and provide a warm, safe place to be. The cafe' is run totally through the generosity and investment in time of local supporters and a team of around 40 volunteers.

We hope to make a positive change in young peoples lives and be able to give them opportunities and experiences any other young person would get. We are currently providing an outreach service to young people who are living in the community, but still need support in the form of life skills, advocacy and sustaining tenancies. our work in Slough encourages young people to get one to one support and engage in group activity to enhance their lives. Most of our young people have been affected by the Covid19 and this last year has proved very isolated for some who are living by themselves. Sewak has seen many cases of depression & mental health, nd we are now promoting healthy well being groups to support clients who need a little extra help. Our domestic abuse refuges have provided safe homes to vulnerable women and children fleeing abuse, and here we have seen a high rise in referrals over the last year. Refuge provides a woman with a safe culturally sensitive accomodation, where different backgrounds and cultures are understood. Refuge gives clients the opportunity to rebuild their lifes after trauma, through holistic approaches in the form of counselling, empowerment programmes and play therapy for children who have witnessed abuse and violence. Women are encouraged to strive towards training and education, in order to works towards independence and resettle back in the community. Sewak refuge works closely with social services and other partner agencies such slough immigration aid unit, Thames valley police & slough CVS. Our referalls are self referrals and through routes to support. Our circle of friends group promotes well being and tackles isolation in the elderly community. A group that meets once a week to provide inclusion for the elderly community in the form of yoga classes, art workshops, healthy eating workshops and budgeting. This years group project looks discovering colours, which allows our clients to prepare their own portfolios in the form of paintings and pictures, which will be showcased in June 2022 at the Slough CVS main hall. Sewak Housing Services CIC are not funded by the local authority and we rely on the income from rent and small local grants to keep our work ongoing. Our aim for this year is to extend the bedspaces we provide for victims of abuse due to referrals rising over the last year. All food provided by Neighbourly to our charity is provided for free. We distribute the food amongst the families at refuge and our outreach clients in the community who need support We are starting up an open kitchen from January 2023 every second Thursday of month to feed the homeless in Slough too, as things are pretty bad locally in the area at present.

Crossroads Care Wokingham is a local charity providing home based respite breaks to support unpaid carers who look after a family member, relative or a friend with chronic health conditions, disabilities or mental health problems living within Wokingham and its surrounding areas. There are estimated 12000 unpaid carers in Wokingham, many of whom providing more than 50 hours a week of unpaid care to their love ones. Our aim is to reduce the stress of the carers and have a life beyond caring by offering them Me Time - a time to relax, go shopping, meet up with friends, look after own health needs or spend quality time with other family members. With our limited funding, we are currently supporting 120 carers. This project is specially to provide home based respite breaks to support unpaid carers of people with life threatening illnesses. From our recent survey, 34% of our carers are caring for someone with life limiting illnesses, such as cancer, motor neuron disease, heart failure and late stage of Parkinson. We currently have 13 carers on the waiting list. The demand is increasing as many of their love ones would prefer to die in their own homes. We will operate an open referral system. Once referral is received, we will visit the carers to discuss what kind of breaks that would meet their needs. A palliative care trained carer support worker will be allocated to the carer to take over the caring role throughout his/her caring journey. The project will be available from 7:00 to 23:00, 7 days a week. Priority will be given to people with a prognosis of last six months of their illness. As an example, a £5000 funding will enable us to provide approximately 250 care hours, equating to 125 visits. We will also work with our professional partners to provide a holistic support. Case study – Mr P, aged 76, had prostate cancer and also suffered from dementia. His wife, aged 78, was his sole carer who was fatigue and stress due to her caring role and interrupted sleep. We visited them three times a week to give them both emotional and practical support until Mr P passed away in his own home. Mrs P said, ‘The support has made a huge difference to my husband whose wish was to die in his own home’.