Elaine reflects on the 20 years of our drop-in-centre
The THOMAS drop-in centre is twenty years old this year! It is a place where people of all ages, whose lives are shambolic and desperately difficult can come and meet up, eat a hot meal, drink lots of tea and relax in an atmosphere of love and tolerance.
Henry Nouen said ‘they come for a moment of warmth in the vastness of their devastation’.
The Drop-in is kept running smoothly by an army of wonderful, dedicated volunteers, some of whom have been at THOMAS for many years. Many volunteers come to help expecting to give, not realising how much they are going to receive from the clients!
I used to believe that the most important thing in life was to be loved, I soon realised from talking to certain clients that it is much more basic than that, it is to know that you are lovable. Without that, how can you start even believing in yourself let alone believing in other people? These clients found it very
difficult at first to cope with volunteers who treated then as valuable human beings, reaching out with and encouragement. On the other hand these were clients whose lives were un-imaginable yet they had humour and tenacity and would not be defeated. Some had amazing faith too – I was profoundly touched by a lad who lived under a tree! He would come to us early every morning to dry out and eat and relish a hot drink. He would often mention God in everyday conversation. One day I expressed my surprise that he
wasn’t just a tiny bit at odds with the Almighty, considering his dreadful circumstances, to which he replied ‘when life is reduced to a sleeping-bag under a tree and a fag-end picked up in the gutter, there is no clutter to come between you and God’. An unforgettable moment.
There are members of our society who denigrate soup-kitchens and centres like ours, clearly they haven’t worked in such a place! They don’t realise that the drop-in centre has other hugely important roles to play. Feeding people is not just about filling stomachs. So much else goes on constantly. The offering of food is an age-old tool for creating a medium of tolerance, love and trust. It is an excellent way of finding out what else are their needs. Over the years, we have reached out and helped with an enormous diversity of needs such as how to fill in forms, (not my forte!), how to get a doctor, dentist, somewhere to live, lifts to court-houses, even accompanying people to the undertakers to view a deceased relative or friend.
Reaching out daily on personal needs was the seed out of which grew our very successful drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. Many of those service-users came to the rehab. via the Drop-in centre, turning seemingly hopeless chaos into hope and fulfilment .
An incredible moment for me was when, after eight years as manager of the Drop-in I handed the baton to Paul, a wonderful young man who had himself come to the Drop-in, then went through the rehab. He completely turned his life around. All that started for him with a hot meal, a cup of tea and a listening ear. And now he was in charge.
For those who are unable to overcome their chaos, the centre is essential; it is that ‘moment of warmth’ and there is always hope of improvement in the future. New volunteers soon came to see that here are no ‘THE HOMELESS’ but individuals with the same intelligence and talents as anyone else but whose needs, unlike most of us, are basic and dire. We have coped with the occasional fracas which is nearly always followed by effusive apologies. These occasions are very rare.
For those who might be thinking of volunteering but are afraid of catching diseases, I can honestly say that in twenty years I have never even caught nits! Just a lot of laughter lines, many lovely friends from both sides of the counter, and a profound admiration for the stoicism and camaraderie of so many people who live life day to day in conditions many people find hard to believe. In our present economic climate, the Drop-in centre is as busy as ever; sometimes coping with over fifty people in one session. For as long as there is a need, may it continue to thrive.
Here’s to the next twenty years!
