Sainsbury's Store Support Centre - Store Operations

We provide a number of different activities for the local community from women's group, children's activities, opportunities for older generation to meet together, support for debt, housing, benefit advice and a drop in cafe style service. People are able to get fed alongside some company and obtain advice on a number of issues. More vulnerable members of the community are able to receive a warm welcome and support from volunteers who are available to talk and sit with people of all ages and background from the local community.

Sanctus is a charity supporting homeless and vulnerable people in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas. We are the only day-centre in a significant part of Essex. Sanctus operates a three-story building, on our ground floor is the Sanctus Café which provides a safe and warm environment. We provide free nutritious meals which are served alongside hot and cold drinks, snacks, sandwiches and pastries. In addition to this, we distribute clothes, tents, sleeping bags, sanitary products, toiletries and other essential items. Through our Café, we are able to offer food, warmth and a safe haven, but this service is designed as a gateway to build trust and lead individuals on to accessing wider support. In 2021 over 15,000 meals were served and over 16,000 food items were collected from local businesses and distributed that otherwise would have gone to waste. Our Support Hub on the 2nd and 3rd floors offers free support services, including 1:1 mentoring, assistance with gaining housing and sustaining tenancies, benefits applications, furnishing homes, addiction and mental health support, health and wellbeing advice and signposting, and a range of other advocacy services. We work to target the root causes of why someone is homeless, at risk of being homeless or other vulnerabilities. Just one support session may be the one that turns someone’s life around or prevents life impacting actions. Over 2,000 support sessions were completed in 2021. The purpose of our organisation it to provide a centre in the heart of the city where individuals, with various complex needs, can come and receive food and support. This is a community space, which we invite other service providers to utilise, to generate a holistic approach to supporting individuals. We believe that everyone should have a safe and secure home, food on the table and network of support. Our aim is to be there for vulnerable people at a moment of crisis and provide them with the necessary help. From this moment, we then work alongside them in their journey to recovery to help them to take steps to lead a positive life. Referrals to other services can often take time, which leaves individuals in an extremely vulnerable state. At Sanctus, we are able to provide immediate support in these interim periods and continue to provide support alongside other services. What is unique about our services, is there is no criteria to receive our support. Our work is person centred, meaning we tailor our support offering to each individual. We aim to help vulnerable individuals to build confidence and trust in support services, so they can receive help both from us and other agencies and statutory services.

We work over two locations in St Helens. The first ‘Hope House’ is a town centre building which acts as a drop in centre providing basic needs services, support, advocacy and signposting to those experiencing homelessness, those at risk of homelessness and those seeking treatment for drug and alcohol misuse. Our service users are able to access a breakfast club five mornings a week, shower facilities and fresh clothing with access to laundry. Further support is available in the form of advice, signposting and referral to specialist support to help people move forward. We also provide access to IT and a phone as well as providing a correspondence address so that those who don't have stable accommodation can engage with mainstream services. Our second location in Atherton Street, acts as home to our Training Centre and Gateway Service. Here a bespoke course is available to support people with their self-esteem and confidence building individuals' aspirations and assertiveness to achieve their goals. Learners are also invited to engage with learning IT and our work club which supports people back into work. St. Helens Foodbank is administered from this centre with one of the hubs based at the Hope Centre and our other project, Baby Basics, works in partnership with health visitors to provide practical starter packs of new and donated essential items to mums who are unable to prepare for their new arrival.