READING STREET EXHIBITION TO MARK WORLD HOMELESS DAY
A group of Reading’s charities, community organisations and Council commissioned services are joining forces on the 10th October 2018 in a street campaign to mark World Homeless Day – a world annual event drawing attention to the needs of local homeless people and providing opportunities for communities to help them.
CIRDIC, Faith Christian Group, Greyfriars Church, Health Outreach Liaison Team (HOLT), St Mungo’s, Launchpad, Lifespring Church, Providence Chapel, IRIS (drug and alcohol services), Reading Minster and the Salvation Army are all involved in helping the homeless of Reading. For the second year, they are coming together to help local people learn more about the challenges facing homeless people in the community, highlight particular issues in Reading and strengthen support for existing initiatives.
The World Homeless Day slogan is ‘locals act locally on a global day.’ By coming together, we want to take advantage of the increased awareness and strengthen communities in Reading to help homeless people.
We want to make people aware of the challenges in helping the homeless. There is a whole range of reasons why people might find themselves homeless, and depending on their circumstances, they need very different kinds of help. That’s why the initiatives our organisations run are carefully developed in partnership with the Council and local organisations to deliver practical help that makes a real difference.
If people see someone living on the streets they think need help, they can use the StreetLink mobile app to alert local support organisations (www.streetlink.org.uk) or call 0808 800 4444 8am-8pm Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday. By doing this, they can help to connect that person to the local services available.
Reading’s charities, community organisations and Council commissioned services will be running an exhibition with support from Connect Reading in Broad Street between 9.00am and 3.00pm on the 10th October with stalls to showcase how they work to help the homeless in Reading and to explain how people can get involved. They will also be handing out leaflets and having conversations with early morning commuters at Reading Railway Station to raise awareness.
To find out more about the activities planned by Reading’s charities and community organisations on World Homeless Day, visit www.whdreading.uk or follow #whdreading on Twitter.