Manna House helps to serve the homeless of Stoke-on-Trent. When they have nowhere to go, no food to eat and no clean clothes, Manna House is the light in their darkest hour.
Many people fall on hard times and throughout the UK there are an estimated 320,000 homeless and the number is rising. No one expects to be homeless yet statistics report that many families are only two pay packets away from losing their homes. Homeless charity Crisis recently reported that due to a wide range of factors the ‘typical’ image of a homeless person is changing, click here to find out more.
Manna House helps homeless people, whom they call ‘guests’ by providing hot meals, food bags, clothing, bathing facilities and medical treatment. Guests trust the volunteers at Manna House and are helped through these tough times by having a safe space to go where they are treated like people, rather than a nuisance. At Manna House they are looked after, knowing they will get a hot meal, a wash, clean clothes and some food for future days.
Manna House is there to support the homeless in Stoke-on-Trent and supports around 100 guests per week. Describing their work, one guest said:
“Manna House is a place where I can go without judgement. They see me as a person and give me the help I need to get me through the week.”
Ann Nicklin who is a Trustee at Manna House said that “More recently, Manna House also started to run an art group to give guests another place to go to talk, create and spend time off the streets.”
Another area Manna House helps is by getting other services involved to help their guests. Manna House now runs a service hub where the Department for Work and Pensions, The Housing Association, nursing, drugs clinics and other services are available in the trusted environment to try and engage guests with services who can help them moving forward.
All guests are welcome at Manna House and can drop-in for practical advice and support or just a chat. As with any charity, Manna House is funded through the kind support of local people and companies.
They are always pleased to receive donations, but a recent gift from PETT just blew them away.
From their Winter Wonderland fundraising event, PETT donated rucksacks which Ann Nicklin, who is a Trustee at Manna House, says were incredible.
“We’ve received donations before but the amount of thought that went into the rucksacks provided by PETT was amazing. They had obviously researched very thoroughly what would be useful and what was needed. They really had thought of everything, from the wind up torch and radio so that the guests don’t have to find funds for batteries, through to wet wipes and socks. We know that wet feet are a real issue for guests and can lead to foot sores, so it was lovely that they included warm, dry socks.”
PETT made a donation of 40 rucksacks which equates to £2,000.
Talking about PETT’s support, Ann said “With the support of organisations such as PETT we can help so many homeless people in Stoke-on-Trent. Being able to hand out these rucksacks to those in need means that we know they have some essentials to make their week a little easier.”
If you would like to support Manna House please visit http://www.mannahouse-hanley.co.uk/