OV EOS

Depaul’s mission is to end homelessness and change the lives of those affected by it. Depaul’s London services include emergency overnight, and longer term hostel based accommodation which support over 400 vulnerable young people every year (aged 16-25 years) who face the terrible prospect of being homeless and sleeping rough. Depaul UK focuses on young people in crisis and beyond. We support them by offering a safe place to stay in a crisis, helping them to take the step from homelessness into stable housing and providing specialist long-term support to help get lives back on track. Our goal is to empower people who face homelessness, improving their quality of life and helping them stay off the streets for good. Over the past 27 years Depaul has grown and developed to work with some of the most disadvantaged young people in the UK and specialises in working in communities where poverty and long-term unemployment have resulted in generations of social exclusion and high rates of homelessness. Depaul needs volunteers to help with the following: Teams to take on gardening challenges at Depaul hostels. Volunteers to run workshops (coding skills etc.) and host ‘work taster’ sessions to support young homeless people into employment. Mentors to provide 1-1 employability support for young homeless people

We are seeking your support for the 'Dragon Cafe' which started in October 2012 and is a pop up community cafe in Southwark and meets currently at St Peter's Crypt, Liverpool Grove off the Walworth Road, SE17 2HH. It is open every Monday from midday until 7.00pm at night as an innovative, creative space for improving wellbeing, a menu of free activities designed to promote creativity and connectedness, and offering good value vegetarian, nutritious food. Each month a theme is pursued by our freelance curators and a programme of new activities is created together with our regular and much used sessions of Tai Chi, yoga, massage, gardening, singing and dancing. The work of local artists, in keeping with the theme, are shown on the walls of the Dragon Cafe which occupies a large space divided into two, giving us a quiet room and an active room. On average 150 people come through our doors every Monday, the majority of whom have poor mental health. We run the Dragon Cafe each Monday with part time staff and a team of volunteers on rota from a pool of volunteers. The volunteers are drawn from the cafe patrons, as well as other networks, local community mental health teams and South Bank University. The weekly programme adapts and innovates continuously. It pops up once a week to engage, connect and inspire people to help them with their onward journey of recovery through the week and beyond. The Dragon Cafe has creativity at its heart. We train our part time staff and team of volunteers in Mindful Working & Reflective Practice which enables them to support people with mental health issues. Each new person is introduced to the activities and services in the Café and is walked through the two big rooms (one a designated quiet space) meeting the staff, regulars and volunteers. This process allows for observation of their wellbeing as well as a suggested matching of their interests with the arts activities.

We are a movement of people who believe being clean is not a privilege or a luxury. Our network of hygiene banks exist to support people in crisis and those struggling on low income, while at the same time working to inspire social change. The Hygiene Bank accepts hygiene products that are donated by local communities and partner organisations redistributes them to those who need them.