Over he last couple of weeks we have given out 16 sleeping bags at Church Without Walls Westminster alone. Here are some of the stories of the people we have met and given bags to.
On November 2nd, Amy Williams will be running the New York Marathon – raising funds for AUOS. So if you would like to support Amy and support the charity, you can do so at the link below.
@MAKETREKS met The Preacher in the London Underground and spent the evening with him learning about his life and what had led him to become homeless on the streets.
If you ever shop online, you can help raise money for the work of Above us only sky? It's very simple - just visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/aboveus/ to register and shop with over 2000 well known retailers like Amazon, Argos, M&S, eBay and many more. Whenever you buy something, the retailer makes a donation to AUOS. It won't cost you a penny extra to shop through easyfundraising and you can even save money with special offers and voucher codes.
Inspired by recent articles in Dutch newspapers illustrating the growing issue of homelessness in the city, over 15,000 and counting, a wider conversation opened up within the agency that presented the question 'What can we do to help?' Immediately, 'A Piggy Bank For the Homeless', an awareness and fundraising campaign designed to help tackle the homeless issue head-on, was born.
On Saturday 7th June a group going to Church Without Walls Westminster, saw two guys sleeping under blankets in a doorway they stopped and offered the guys sleeping bags and sandwiches, when giving out any sleeping bags the team always make it clear that God loves the person and that the sleeping bags are a gift from Jesus, the team members also always pray with anyone receiving the bags
Homelessness is on the rise in London. In the first three months of 2014, over 2000 people slept on the streets of the capital of UK.
In England, 53,000 people are now registered as homeless, a 21% rise from 2010.
Last March on a very cold dark morning we arrived a Church Without Walls Ilford and found a man late twenties huddled under the bridge, lets call him Ben. Ben was cold and wet, we put a fleece on him gave him a hot egg and a sandwich. As we talked with him we realised he came from Havering area and we contacted Kim, Hope4Havering. We took him to our local cafe where he had a hot breakfast then took him to Kim's house,
From creator of the video
"I've never been so sad and shocked while filming as I was for this experience. I hope this video will make you want to help anyone. regardless of its appearance. This speaks for itself ."
In the last year we have given away sleeping bags, fleece tops, and other items to people on the streets either directly or through our steadily increasing group of partners. These are the numbers.
628 Sleeping Bags
158 Fleeces
162 Bags Of Hope
Lantern Of Hope is our new outreach programme where a group of volunteers go out onto the streets after midnight until the early hours looking for people who are sleeping on the streets in need of a sleeping bag to provide them with one to fulfill an immediate need.
This is the story of our first night:
Since we began, over 1,530 sleeping bags have been given to needy homeless people in and around London. They are in popular demand and many new people turn up each week at Church Without Walls in Westminster and llford.
A couple of recipients have walked many miles to these outreach posts to obtain a life- saving sleeping bag. A member of the team prays with each person as they receive a bag and we have seen many answers to prayer.