Through the projects of Kingdom Way Trust we often focus on developing friendships and building community amongst those we work with rather than just providing accommodation or a ‘service’. This is demonstrated through: volunteers eating and chatting together with guests at the Winter Night Shelter; creating a safe space for the street community to hang out at the weekend drop-in; communal meals at The Bridge; Befrienders sitting in the garden having coffee or going for a walk with tenants of our Hope into Action houses; trainees and supervisors exchanging banter or serious conversation in the workshop or over lunch at Hope Woodwork.
Building Community is important to us in seeing people’s live renewed, rebuilt and restored. This blog post brings the issue of our need for community into sharp focus and provides a challenge for us to continue to build friendships and help people know they are valued and belong, rather than just respond to perceived physical needs.
‘Every time I ask a person who has moved out of homelessness how they did it, the practicalities of housing, food and possessions are footnotes in their story. The key issues are of friendship, community and belonging.’ Simon Dwight
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