I’ve been doing a bit of work with Connection @ St Martins recently, giving them some ideas to get more readers for their blog (which is well worth checking out by the way). The Connection, which operates out of the building next to the grand church designed by James Gibbs in 1726, works with over 5,000 homeless people in central London each year, offering a day and night centre and outreach for rough sleepers, as well as helping people with skills training, career advice, activity programmes and several support regimes for people with complex needs.
This Wednesday, 7 December, the centre is having an open day, where you’ll be able to see aspects of the work that they do as well as get a guided tour of the building, help decorate the Christmas tree, watch a performance by the homeless choir, Streetwise Opera, or support the charity by buying a gift in their Christmas shop or having a snack in the cafe.
As part of the open day, younger homeless people will be exhibiting the ‘A to Z of Homelessness‘, a series of short films, cartoons and photographs which seek to convey the harsh realities that are faced by rough sleepers. P, for example, stands for ‘Prostitution’ – Michael, who is homeless, created this letter because a close relative was caught in a cycle of prostitution and was eventually murdered. Michael says that “Because of my personal experience it’s really important to me that I get the message across how dangerous it can be. I decided to use Lego to illustrate the subject matter because it’s colourful and I’m hoping it’ll appeal to younger people too”.
The Connection @ St Martin’s Open Day takes place from 1pm to 6pm on Wednesday, 7th December at 12, Adelaide Street, London. WC2N 4HW. I hope to see you there!
December 4, 2011
Charity and Environment