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Extraordinary Chaos

Extraordinary Chaos

A Uk Craft, food and family travel blog

Home » Blog » The Open Door Centre, Colne and Project Sunlight

The Open Door Centre, Colne and Project Sunlight

5th December 2014 by SarahJChristie 11 Comments

When I visited the fantastic Blogfest this year I spoke to the lovely people from Unilever about Project Sunlight. It shocked me a bit, you see I live in a little bubble, and although I was aware of food banks as a concept, I never really thought about the hardship a person must be in to need to access a food bank. Silly I know but be honest with yourself ? And I mean really honest, have you given it much thought past the concept.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought I would like to help in some way so this week I did something that made me realise there are some wonderful people in the world, the type of people who put others first.

I visited the Open Door Centre in Colne Lancashire. Open Door is a charity that not only provides a warm meal and support for people in need, but helps them to improve their situation be it via emergency food parcels, help filling out forms, life skills training and many, many other services.

p004_0_01_1I had arranged to meet with the Centre Manager Dawn to chat about the Centre and what it meant to the people who use it.  When I arrived I was surprised to enter through the main doors into a cafe. It was absolutely nothing at all like I expected. I imagined a food and furniture warehouse, when in fact I found myself in a community cafe where people were able to pop in for a coffee, chat, cheap meal, soup and a sandwich and access to a P.C and the internet.

Dawn was in the middle of something when I arrived so she offered me a coffee and a seat to wait for her. I must say it was like being in any other cafe or coffee shop, it had a buzzing atmosphere as some people chatted amongst themselves and some just sat a read a newspaper.

What struck me was that as people came and went Dawn referred to each and every one of those people by name It might only be a little thing so some, but in my opinion such a gesture is just huge, and can make a person feel so good about themselves, feel wanted and valued as a person.

So what is the Centre all about?

Well according to Project Sunlight  #ClearAPlate statistics; one in five UK families lives below the poverty line? This means in some areas, there are whole neighborhoods’ affected, even if you can’t see it.

Open Door is a solution for these people, families and independent people who sometimes have nowhere to turn. Dawn was very clear that she does not aim to be a sticking plaster, but more a place to resolve situations. And as she said ” the only way to deal with problems is to find a way to resolve it, help people to overcome their problems rather than a quick fix.”

So how does the Open Door Centre do this?

They are a first point of call for most people, as a result of this they firstly listen and always have counsellors on hand to try to resolve problems and set an action plan into place.

The Centre services have been accessed over 3000 times this year and offered over 600 emergency food parcels to keep people going whilst they are referred to a food bank.

They offer Internet access, IT lessons, literacy and numeracy workshops, Confidence building, Health and Safety, Mental Health awareness Courses. Even a place to get a shower and soup and a roll.   All these thing are vital to help people be able to take control with their situation and overcome issues.

Open Door has 22 counsellors who liaise with agencies such as benefits agency, mental health services, debt management and housing to name a few, all with the aim of  helping to resolve problems which in turn alleviates stress levels for vulnerable people, and that is the key.

What I came away with, from my time spent with Dawn ? The customers that use open door have for whatever reason become vulnerable in our society,  as I sat with Dawn I realised that but for the grace of god that could quite easily be me or indeed a loved one.

unilever_project_sunlight_main

The importance is to not judge, but listen and realise that we are all the same inside. Yet some, for whatever reason, need support and help in life. So please help, drop a food parcel into the wonderful people at Open Door. Or Donate, every penny helps. and as the Centre cost £120,000 a year to run donations of all kind are greatly appreciated.

 

And remember this, whilst we are stressing about getting all our Christmas prezzies, ordering expensive food and wine for Christmas day. The customers of open door are worrying about putting food on the table, feeding themselves or their families. Or even worrying about having somewhere to sleep that night. Please support Open Door and Project Sunlight and remember just being able to provide our families with food and warmth for some is a luxury.
Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com

Filed Under: Blog, Blogging Tagged With: charity, colne, Food, homeless, Open door, project sunlight

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jenna says

    5th December 2014 at 10:16 am

    What a fab project and such lovely people behind it. I really admire people who go to great lengths to help others.

    Jenna at Tinyfootsteps xx

    Reply
    • SarahJChristie says

      6th December 2014 at 8:49 pm

      Yes Jenna me too and Dawn was just incredible as were all the volunteers.x

      Reply
  2. Kat | Beau Twins says

    5th December 2014 at 10:42 am

    Wow you are amazing hun. So wonderful you have gone out your way to do this. Fantastic post and worthy of ticket win. Xxxxx

    Reply
    • SarahJChristie says

      6th December 2014 at 8:48 pm

      Ah thanks Kat, it was a very humbling experience x

      Reply
  3. Katie says

    6th December 2014 at 7:42 pm

    It’s so great that you visited the centre to find out more about what they do there Steph. Sounds like they have a lot of hard work on their hands but are doing it in exactly the right way by treating everyone as normally and respectfully as they deserve. I love the fact that it feels like any other café rather than a help centre. x

    Reply
    • SarahJChristie says

      6th December 2014 at 8:46 pm

      Thanks Katie, yes it really had a heart, lovely to visit x

      Reply
  4. Karen says

    7th December 2014 at 7:44 am

    This is a real eye-opener. Really interesting to read and glad you shared this.

    Reply
    • SarahJChristie says

      7th December 2014 at 9:25 am

      Thanks Karen it really was, makes you feel sad that people worry about the simple things x

      Reply
  5. Mary-Kate Williamson says

    11th December 2014 at 12:03 pm

    I’ve just blogged about #ClearAPlate, this Christmas we’re going to buy some shopping for our local food bank, it’s really touched us how big of an issue food poverty is here in our own country. Open door sounds great!

    Glad I found your blog via HonestMum’s linky. x

    Reply
    • SarahJChristie says

      12th December 2014 at 6:50 pm

      Ah thank you Mary-Kate what a lovely thing to say, I am glad you found me, and your blog is fab xxx

      Reply
  6. Honest Mum says

    16th December 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Amazing lady and incredible cause, thanks for sharing! Thanks for linking up to #brilliantblogposts x

    Reply

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