World Homeless Week

As part of the recent World Homeless Week, we used our social media channels to highlight some of the work we do and some of the people we support. One of these people, Osama, fled from Sudan and arrived in England as a refugee. Osama became homeless through no fault of his own and has done everything possible to rebuild his life. Read more of Osama’s story here: https://www.facebook.com/cambridgecyrenians/photos/a.129611043793793/2520512774703596/?type=3&theater

Ex resident Toby Peters has made a short video about the Older Homeless Project. Tracy, Mark and John talk about how the project makes such a difference to their lives and Lucine Harrison, Older Homeless Project Worker, speaks about her role. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/cambridgecyrenians/videos/1143680329310364/

Fundraising is essential to support our work as we provide a range of services to the homeless. If you’d like to raise money for Cyrenians, we’ve come up with a few fun ideas ( see pictures below). Whatever you’d like to do, from holding a cake sale to running a marathon, don’t hesitate to contact us if you need some help and know that we are always so grateful for your donations.

New Staff

Welcome to our new staff member Tinni who’s joined us as a Project Worker for our Move On Houses. In her spare time, Tinni is making a documentary about homelessness in Cambridge and we look forward to seeing that early next year.

Move on

One of our residents has moved on into his own one-bedroom flat recently. In his mid-40’s, he was initially a resident in our Ex-Offenders’ accommodation before switching to a Move On House. He has worked closely with Louisa, our Mental Health Nurse, and has been a keen member of our football team. Looking to his future, he’d been saving money each month over his time with us and used that plus some grants, including one from Cambridge Street Aid, to buy white goods and furniture. We helped him to move in and will keep in touch as he settles into his new home.

Older Persons House

Our long term Older Persons’ House is home to seven people over the age of 50. These residents may have once had their own tenancy that they weren’t able to sustain for all sorts of reasons, for example, loneliness, mental health problems, insufficient life skills to manage budgeting and living independently. A live-in volunteer supports residents and deals with issues, shops with them, goes with them to our allotment project or just simply chats to help combat loneliness. Residents are able to move on from our Older Persons’ House but it is their home for life if that’s what they want.

If you’d like to make a donation to support the work we do you can do so through our website https://cambridgecyrenians.org.uk/support-us/