Volunteering Opportunity: Winter Beds Project Volunteer with Open Door St Albans Charity

For the past 6 years the Open Door Charity has provided safe, warm beds for people who would otherwise be rough sleeping in St Albans over winter. The Open Door night shelter, run by Hightown, on Bricket Road accommodates 12 people experiencing homelessness all year round, but over the bitter winter months extra bed spaces are needed to ensure no one has to sleep on the streets in St Albans. The Winter Beds Project works to prevent people dying on the streets when the temperatures plummet by providing them with self contained accommodation and access to support services that address their housing and support needs.

Last year the project provided accommodation everynight from December through to April and accommodated 17 people who would otherwise slept rough. Guests are given accommodation in self contained sleeper cabins. Each cabin provides secure, Covid safe accommodation with heating, electricity and en-suite facilities. Guests are provided with toiletries and given breakfast each morning. Guests of the project are supported to find secure accommodation to move on to by the rough sleeper outreach team.

The project is entirely volunteer run and we are recruiting more volunteers to help us deliver the Winter Beds Project this winter.

Opportunity Type: Seasonal Commitment

District: St Albans

Start Date: 01/12/2023
End Date: 31/03/2024

Location: Indoor, Outdoor

Time of day: Weekday Mornings, Weekday Evenings, Casual or Intermittent

Practical Considerations: Some volunteering work will take place outside, in the dark over winter.

There is no lone working and volunteers are invited to volunteer alongside family members/friends.

Suitable for: 18 – 25 year olds, Aged 26 and over

Suitable for volunteers interested in: Addiction & Substance Misuse, Crisis Support, Homelessness & Housing Support, Isolation & Loneliness, Mental Health, Unemployment & Worklessness

Does this opportunity provide wheelchair access?: No

Full Description:
The Winter Beds Project is based at Emmaus St Albans and run entirely by a team of volunteers overseen by the Project Coordinator.

Last year 77 volunteers helped run the service, volunteers support the project by welcoming guests in the evening, checking them out of cabins in the morning and helping to organise supplies and laundry. Guests take comfort in the support of volunteers and have praised the “friendliness of all the volunteers and the kindness encountered”.

This year the Winter Beds Project will run from December to March and all volunteers are given
full training.

Volunteer Roles
We are looking for volunteers to cover two shifts per day, the shifts are likely to be -

Evening Shift (8:00pm-10:00pm) - 2 Volunteers
Setting up cabins
Greeting guests
Allocating cabins
Handover to night staff

Morning Shift (7:00am-9am) - 2 Volunteers
Handover from night staff
Waking Guests
Clearing and cleaning cabins
Arranging transportation for guests

In addition to the Evening and Morning shift volunteers we are looking for volunteers for the following roles:

Laundry (One volunteer per week on a rota basis)
Collecting laundry from Emmaus site
Laundering bed clothes and towels
Returning to Emmaus Site

Volunteer Training
All volunteers will be required to attend one of our online training sessions which will cover -

Working with vulnerable adults and safeguarding
Emmaus site
Accommodation units and utilities
Referrals and access
Volunteer roles
Covid safety and compliance (PPE, cleaning, social distancing, confirmed cases, developing symptoms etc.)

Training sessions will take place over Zoom