Spreading hope to the needy

Spreading hope to the needy

The Hope Centre in St Helens is sharing God’s love in practical ways through a multitude of projects. Chris Rolfe met the team in charge to find out how.

“St Helens is a great town, but unfortunately we’re facing the same challenges everyone else is right now with the cost of living crisis,” says Angela Metcalfe. “Thankfully, God has placed us perfectly to respond to those needs.”

Angela, with colleagues Julie Hand and Janice Macleod, heads up a raft of projects at the Hope Centre in the town, which helps people facing homelessness, poverty, mental health problems and parenthood.

The Hope Centre, a charity birthed from CLC St Helens church, includes a food bank, community store, homeless project, and also supports new parents and those struggling with mental health issues.

“We’ve seen an increase in demand across all our projects. The cost of living crisis is impacting people who might have donated to food banks in the past but now need to use them themselves,” says Angela.

The Hope Centre is headed by, from left, Janice Macleod, Angela Metcalfe and Julie Hand

Through its work, Angela, Julie and Janice say the Hope Centre aims to act on the gospel call to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Here, they explain how three projects are helping build the kingdom of God in St Helens.

Hope House homeless project

The Hope House project, explains Julie, provides a lifeline to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and those with drug and alcohol addictions or mental health issues. Sadly, the need for its services is growing rapidly.

“The economy at the moment is really affecting our service users. We can have 60-90 presentations a day and we’ve seen a large increase over the past few months,” she says.

Hope House provides everything from breakfasts, lunches and benefits advice to laundry and showers, with towels and toiletries included. It also acts as a hub for other agencies in St Helens, which unite to signpost people to the help they need.

One of the highlights for Julie is the activities which teach life skills or allow extra care for those in tough situations.

“We had a ladies’ day recently where the ladies spent the day getting pampered. One hadn’t had her hair cut since 2001 and another hadn’t washed her hair for three years. They came in with their hair in buns and left transformed.

“We’ve also had funding from a lady who’s been through a lot and wanted to help other women. So we’re doing another ladies’ day where we’re teaching them to cook spaghetti bolognese, chicken curry and tuna bake.”

Julie says she has been amazed at God’s abundant provision at Hope House.

“The freezer might be nearly empty, then you get a call and it’s full again. Or we’ll realise we need to buy tea and coffee and the next minute someone arrives with a donation.

“It’s at moments like this that I can share my faith with the volunteers and service users. It’s all glory to God!”

St Helens Foodbank and Hope Pantry

“When we started St Helens Foodbank ten years ago, we didn’t think it would still be around today, but it’s become a huge answer to the cost of living crisis, so maybe God had a plan all along,” says Angela.

That’s certainly something Janice – who oversees the food bank – has found to be true.

“God spoke to me about this years ago through the story of Joseph,” she says. “I felt him say there was going to be a famine in the land, that the world would be coming to the church to be fed and the church would answer the call.”

She has seen that vision come to reality as the food bank has expanded to five hubs throughout St Helens, staffed by 70 volunteers.

hopecentre1 “It’s not just about giving people food, though,” she says, “it’s also about showing we care. One lady we saw today had come straight from hospital in her slippers. They’d paid for a taxi to take her home but she came to the food bank instead because she had no food. We gave her food and got her a taxi. She went home with a smile on her face.”

In September, the Hope Centre added another project into its mix – the Hope Pantry community store. There, families can join for £4 and choose ten items of food every week.

But again, the popular project is about more than just accessing food, explains Janice.

“People can also get cups of tea and something to eat from our fantastic kitchen team who make soup, cakes or beans on toast.

“This is a warm space and there’s no rush. They’ll stay and have a brew so they’re not using gas or electricity at home.”

There are the social connections too, she adds: “They’re meeting people or getting information from agencies like the Job Centre or Citizens Advice, which also come here. These projects start off as one thing, but they expand and end up offering lots more ways to help.”

Baby Basics project

The Hope Centre’s Baby Basics project offers support to new parents, explains Angela.

Staffed by volunteers and guided by referrals from local agencies, it provides Moses baskets packed to the brim with clothes for babies up to six months, plus gifts for new mums and toiletries hampers.

baby basket “We get referrals from community midwives, health visitors and local agencies who are dealing with families or new mums who aren’t in the best position to welcome their babies home,” Angela says.

“A health visitor took a pack to a young girl one time, for example. We’d put a card in it signed ‘With love from the Team’ and the girl was thrilled. The health visitor went back a couple of days later and that was the only new baby card on her mantelpiece. It was so sad.

“But that’s what we want to do through this project – to show the love of God. We’re saying God has changed us and he can do the same for you. And if you don’t want to hear it in words, let’s show you in actions instead.”

Last year, the Hope Centre had a huge impact on its community in St Helens. Here’s how: