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Norwich churches' Night Shelter charity needs trustees

The team behind last year’s Norwich Winter Night Shelter, staffed by volunteers from churches across the city, are appealing for trustees to head up a new charity that will continue and build on this important work.  

Last winter for the first time, a Winter Night Shelter was opened by Norwich churches providing accommodation for the city’s homeless people. In order to help sustain the initiative, the team that co-ordinated the project are looking for trustees to further the work as a new charity.
 
The winter night shelter ran from the end of November 2018 until the end of March 2019. Hosted by Norwich Central Baptist Church (NCBC) three nights a week and Russell Street Community Centre two nights a week, the shelter welcomed 58 clients with 29 moving on to more settled accommodation.  

The shelter was staffed by around 50 volunteers from across Norwich churches as well as people with no faith.

Rev Mark Fairweather Tall of Norwich Central Baptist Church said: “The biggest challenge we faced last year was in terms of coordinating the project. We have approached the issue of running a shelter on an ongoing basis in a few different ways but it seems, at the moment, like the only way forward is to set up as a charity in its own right. The charity could then look at employing a coordinator. We would love to see it run eventually every day of the week from November to March.”

The current priorities are to identify trustees who are willing to help set up the new charity, and raising funding for a co-ordinator role. NCBC has offered its building for 3 nights a week again and other churches are open to hosting.

Mark continued: “I believe it is so important that the churches in Norwich come together to offer this service if possible. It was a blessing to be able to work with the City Council, Pathways and other agencies, and a witness to show that the churches care about the homeless. I know the timescale is short for setting something up to open from November but I pray that God can do amazing things through this.” 

If you are interested in becoming a trustee of this new charity please contact Mark by email on mark@norwichcentral.org.   
 


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