Sainsbury's Rayleigh Weir

The objective of the charity is the relief of poverty, both material and emotional in england & wales and abroad through: the person to person involvement of its voluntary members engaged in befriending and through 'special works' , which are projects established to address specific needs in the local community We collect from the following stores: Aldi south Benfleet Lidl. Canvey Island Lidl. Hadleigh Essex M&S. Canvey Island M&S. Rayleigh Sainsburys Canvey Island Sainsburys. Rayleigh Sainsburys. South Benfleet We collect the food six days a week We deliver it to the housebound and elderly and large families in the Castle Point Borough Council Area We also deliver to 3 Food Banks, 5 schools, 3 children’s homes , a senior citizen group and 2 care homes. We give out 51000 parcels last year and delivered 5000 to people’s doors. We also helped with 45 essential housing items, eg washing machines, fridge freezer and air fryers. We run a group of volunteers, that mainly assist with food parcels and essential items for the homes of people in the Castle Point Borough Council Area. The local council also provides us with support in sending their staff to support us, and also ask us to provide spaces for volunteers to help us from their housing list We would love to have more volunteers helping us.

We receive donations from supermarkets, individuals, churches and schools of food. We work in partnership with other agencies in the Rayleigh area who have contact with individuals who are in crisis and for whatever reason are in need of support by the provision of a few days food items. The agency then contacts Hopeworx and then collects the food packs and delivers them to the client. To support this work we have a reused furniture warehouse in Brook Road, Rayleigh where we take donations of furniture and electrical appliances. We sell to the general public and proceeds of these sales support the provision of emergency food packs and also the provision of essential furniture items.

WHO WE ARE Off the streets is a group of concerned residents who have got together to get the homeless off the streets. In order to do this we have opened a 7 day a week 365 days a year night shelter for 10 rough sleepers which will stop them sleeping on the street. The night shelter is open 8PM through to 8AM. We look past the addictions and past the front we find out what is the route cause of the problem, What people are interested in, People pasts and where they want to get to we then break it down in to achievable steps. WHAT WE DO We take referrals from HARP Each guest has to sign a 28 day agreement (which we also set 1 to 3 targets on depending on the individual) These targets can be anything from registering with stars to attending a meeting they may have previously missed (we also offer support and can attend with them if it helps put them at ease. During these 28 days we work individually with the guest to achieve the targets set and to move them on to permanent accommodation. This means that potentially we could have the same 10 guests for 28 days Each guest has a list of rules to read and sign i.e. we have a NO drugs in or around the building and this would report in instant dismissal All guests must be in by 9 unless there is a reason then it is up to the on duty manager to make the decision Even when we move someone on the support is still there and we welcome them back anytime for a chat and a coffee as this is the most important time as many guests feel alone when they move on.