HARC reflections - Christmas 2022/23 - 25/01/2023

The Homeless and Rootless at Christmas project (HARC), has been providing a safe and warm day shelter for homeless and rootless vulnerable people between Christmas and New Year since 1989. 

Volunteers serve three hot meals a day over the festive period, with guests welcome to spend the entire day at HARC, should they wish. As well as the food, a warm welcome, company and something to do helps those who attend get through what can be a cold and lonely time of year. 

Sheffield services attend the project daily to offer support, signpost to other services and make assessments and referrals. We spoke to the Street Outreach Team from Framework, and the Home At Last Team (HALT) from Sheffield Treatment and Recovery Team, about their experiences with this year’s project.

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Framework Street Outreach Team - Aimee Lowe, Service Manager

“Over the festive period, as on every day of the year, our team continued outreach work in the city centre, looking for rough sleepers, making welfare checks, offering support and signposting. Having the HARC project running over this period, when other services are closed, means we have something to offer to any clients we find rough sleeping on outreach. Our team could direct clients to the HARC service to get hot drinks, food, warmth, and company. 

Along with our outreach work, we also did daily drop-ins to HARC, to allow us to catch up with the clients we had found that morning to see if we could offer any support. We work closely with the Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) team, who had someone on call during the festive period that we could contact to come down and assess clients at HARC. 

We got a few clients assessed by the RSI team and also connected a number of clients with their Housing First workers. We managed to get a client a bus pass to get him back home during this time, which is really positive.”

HARC volunteers at the 2022/23 project

Home at Last Team (HALT), from Sheffield Treatment and Recovery Team (START) - Richard Grundy, Team Coordinator

“Our team attended the HARC project over the Christmas and New Year period on every day that it was open.

 

We had over 20 interactions with people attending there. Although we didn’t see many of our clients, the ones that we did see were able to access support and needle exchange.

 

As usual, the staff and volunteers at HARC were really open and welcoming, providing excellent service to people in need. They also provided us with meals on Christmas day to deliver to a number of our service users that are now in their own or temporary accommodation, spreading that Christmas cheer a little further. This kindness was hugely appreciated by our service users!”

HARC volunteers at the 2022/23 project

HARC is funded solely by the generous donations of the people of Sheffield. Donors range from churches to lunch clubs, schools to businesses, people visiting Xmas markets to specially organised events. 

The HARC project manager applies for small grants kindly given by local trusts and other charities.  HARC themselves support other charities that look after the same cohort of guests throughout the year, including the Sunday Centre and Ben's Centre.  Money is spent on food, presents and entertainment for guests but much of what they receive is either given or provided by the fantastic team of volunteers. 

Find out more about how you can support HARC, here: https://www.harcsheffield.org.uk/donate

 

Alison Wise for Help us Help, Jan 2023