Nobody does it better
Maidstone Day Centre is the only local service to offer a complete package to people who are homeless or in crisis.
What makes us so successful?
As a long established local charity we understand how difficult it can be to ask for help but we are able to respond immediately to the needs of an individual so there is no waiting list. We have a small, experienced and dedicated staff who are here 6 days a week, rain or shine.
Since April 2009 we have assisted over 50 people into accommodation, that's 50 men and women who without our support might still be homeless. There will always be people who are waiting to be housed and sadly that is unlikely to change because every week we have new people registering for help.
Just imagine this scenario;
You have a job and live alone in a rented flat -you lose your job and can't find another one; your landlord will not accept Housing Benefit to pay the rent and so you are homeless. Not everyone has a family or friends to fall back on so what would you do? You are likely to feel scared, embarrassed, frightened and very lonely.
How do we help?
We meet and greet all those emotions, we understand how fear can present as aggression, how embarrassment can come over as arrogance and how difficult it is to ask for help. We can be the one constant in people's lives when their world is turned upside down.
We first of all provide the basic needs such as good food, hot showers and clean clothes and then we take the time to listen and to look at what that individual needs because one rule does not fit all.
Where do they come from?
People arrive from many different paths, newly homeless, long term rough sleepers, those with mental health problems, and those suffering from drug/alcohol addiction. It can take time to help someone back into housing and a stable lifestyle and the transition may not be easy but we are there for just as long as we are needed.
We have a strong team at the Day Centre and we just get on with the work quietly and very effectively. We know that homelessness can happen to anyone.
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