Catching Lives’ 2017/18 Canterbury Community Shelter will be running from 1^st December 2017- 28^th February 2018.

We are using 7 church venues around Canterbury (one for each night of the week), which have kindly allowed us to stay overnight, to provide a bed for rough sleepers to shelter from the cold weather and also work with staff/volunteers to find more permanent housing.

To help the shelter run smoothly, we require a strong team of volunteers to carry out a variety of evening or overnight roles:

• Kitchen volunteers to cook supper for the shelter guests at Canterbury Open Centre. (5-7:30pm).
• Evening volunteers to chat to the guests, play board games, etc  at Canterbury Open Centre (5-7:30pm) and at the church venues (7-10pm)
• Overnight volunteers to support the paid staff at the church venues (can bring bedding and sleep if desired) (10pm-7:30am).
• Bedding volunteers with their own transport to take bedding to and from the church venues (mornings at 7:45am and/or evenings at 7pm).

If you would like to help out, please complete a volunteer form and return it to ccs@catchinglives.org

(Form can be found here or on our website here – www.catchinglives.org/winter-shelter). Alternatively you can pop in to Canterbury Open Centre to complete one (Station Road East).

Please note – If you are currently a volunteer with us, or volunteered with the night shelter last year, it is likely we still have your volunteer form, however please let us know you are interested in volunteering for CCS this year so we can make a note and check your details are up to date (contact details, health information, etc.).

Induction evenings

Secondly, we are holding volunteer induction sessions, for new volunteers on the below dates (all cover same information so you only need to attend one).

(If you have volunteered for CCS before, they are not compulsory, but are still useful to attend if you are free as it provides an update and reminder of how everything works).

• Saturday 11th November 2:30-4:30pm
• Tuesday 14th November 6:00-8:00pm
• Monday 20th November 6:00-8:00pm

All sessions are at our day centre, Canterbury Open Centre (Station Road East, Canterbury, CT1 2RB (opposite snooker club)). Unfortunately we do not have any onsite parking.

• Please bring a form of ID (such as a driver’s license or passport).

Please note – If you haven’t volunteered before and cannot make any of these sessions we can arrange a time for you to pop to our centre to chat to a member of staff about the volunteering role one-to-one as all new volunteers require an induction (so you can still volunteer even if you are unable to attend the induction evenings).

Please feel free to send this information to anyone who may be interested.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email ccs@catchinglives.org