About
Community Friends is a befriending service for people at risk of becoming homeless, or who have been homeless and are trying to rebuild their lives.
Mondays: 10am till 12noon
- Hot breakfast service.
Wednesdays: 1 till 3pm
- One stop drop-in, providing hot meal, sandwiches, snacks, tea and coffee.
- Services on site include: Housing; homelessness nurses; DWP;
- Advocacy; Oral Health; eye tests; barber/hairdresser
- Food parcel to take away.
How it works:
The service aims to match people with volunteer befrienders who will be there to listen to their worries, encourage them to become part of their community by taking part in new activities and help build positive relationships where there may have been few or none. The befrienders will never criticise or judge. They won’t have all the answers but will promise to be there when needed.
The Wednesday Drop-in service offers food, friendship, advice and social activities. It is manned by volunteers, with professional advice being offered by statutory agencies such as Housing Options, Community Health and Addiction Services. The aim is that those who attend will gain confidence, be assisted in setting goals for the future and will engage with relevant support services in a neutral environment.
Feedback
Our group members told us what they liked most about Community Friends:
• ‘I appreciate having friendly people who could point me in the right direction for help i.e. with housing issues etc’.
• ‘Get company, get everything in here that you can’t get anywhere else’.
• ‘Everyone has an issue of some sort – compare experiences and learn from each other’.
• ‘Great here coz we get help or we get directed to where we want to go’.
• ‘Appreciate that the volunteers are giving up their time to come’.
• ‘Talk to people about civilised stuff ‘.
• ‘This place gives you a wee boost’.
• ‘Once you go away you feel a lot better’.
• ‘It gives you a wee incentive’.
• ‘Meeting new people’.
• ‘Like getting my hair cut’.
• ‘The food and the eatables and getting fed’.
• ‘Getting a cup of coffee’.
• ‘Catching up with people you don’t get to see otherwise’.
• ‘ Like the food, the company and the hairdresser’.
