The Rotary Club of Scunthorpe working to improve the plight of the homeless

Members of The Rotary Club of Scunthorpe Working to Improve The Plight Of The Homeless

Several members of the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe club meet with their donation bags of food for the local Forge Homeless Initiative.

The club has had a long association with the Forge, an organisation that provides assistance in the form of cooked meals, warm clothing together with help and advice to homeless people.

The Forge Project Day Centre opens five mornings per week offering food and support services to disadvantaged people of North Lincolnshire. It has been providing this service since 1996, helping to improve the lives of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, helping them to improve their prospects.

As well as food, the Forge Day Centre staff provides support, signposting and referral to other agencies as and where required. The Forge Project has partnerships with other agencies such as the local Housing Advice Team, drug and alcohol agencies and mental health agencies.

Representatives from all of these agencies hold clinics to enable clients to see and interview them in a safe environment. The centre is committed to the principle that the disenfranchised are given the right support and opportunities to resolve their problems.

The Rotary Club of Scunthorpe has had a 25 year association with the Forge and has collected gifts, foodstuffs and toys in order to provide hampers for delivery to underprivileged families each Christmas which, regrettably seems to become more necessary as the economy declines.

The present food initiative was started by Rotarians Kate and John Yolland from their home in the village of Appleby near Scunthorpe where, with the generosity of their neighbours they were able to collect and deliver significant quantities of food to the homeless centre during the winter. Having bought extra vegetables from the local farmshop, they delivered it to the Forge centre and placed an article on the village website. The result was remarkable and donations were such that every collection day since then, the accumulated food and clothing was sufficient to fill an entire car for delivery to the centre.

Club President Barney Heywood is proud of our long association with this scheme and says that ‘Without the regular and sustained help of our club, this admirable initiative would be hard pressed to meet the growing need of those unfortunate enough to find themselves without a permanent home’.