The Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre opened in 2023 and is now half way through the season.
After 105 nights (up to 19th January), we have seen 7458 accesses to the service from 467 individuals, and we see that, with the cold and wet winter weather alongside the housing emergency declared by Edinburgh City Council in November, the need for this vital service will not be decreasing soon.
We know that we could not keep the Welcome Centre open without the phenomenal partnership of churches across Edinburgh and so James Milligan, Welcome Centre and Care Van Manager, wished to share his personal thanks for what this has meant in the current season:
In this housing crisis emergency, the demand on the Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre this season has never been so great. It’s with great thanks to all our Church supporters that we have the funds to make a real impact in the lives of those struggling with homelessness and are able to prevent the most vulnerable sleeping on the cold streets of Edinburgh. The Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre has so far supported 467 individuals, men and women, into their own rooms with a WC and shower, with breakfast, lunch and a hot dinner cooks by amazing church volunteers every night. Thanks to our highly trained staff and an abundance of partner agencies we continue to support people out of homelessness and on to longer-term accommodation. On behalf of all the staff at the Rapid-accommodation Welcome Centre, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your help and support.
With several months still ahead of us in the season, would you be able to support the Welcome Centre afresh this winter? We are still in need of support in a few different ways:
- Volunteering:- Over the next few months, we still have some slots in need of catering teams – if your church would be able to provide a small team here, please get in touch with the Welcome Centre team directly at welcomecentre@bethanychristiantrust.com
- Giving:- As the need remains high, so does our need for financial support. Would your church be able to make a financial contribution towards the Welcome Centre? Perhaps this could be through a special collection or a coffee morning or similar event. We can also host a dedicated giving page for your church on our website to make this easier for you so if you would like to chat through it any more, please get in touch with me and I would love to chat it through with you.
- Praying:- We are ever so aware that the work across Bethany Christian Trust is held up by the prayers of the Church across Scotland, and so please hold up the staff and guests at the Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre in your church’s prayers in these coming months. Please pray for safety, security and loving kindness to abound, and for our guests to quickly be re-accommodating into more long term solutions and positive futures.
Finally, please do get in touch if there is anything you would like further information about or if you would like a speaker from our staff team to speak at a service or midweek meeting – we would really love to help your church to engage with our work as much as we can.
