Serving hope

In 2022, we equipped churches to play a key role in offering people a warm, safe, and consistent place to belong.

Kath is a volunteer. Inspired by CUF’s Growing Good toolkit, and supported by Transforming Lives Together, she played a key role in helping St Paul’s to open a Place of Welcome.

“We were beginning to see some parents who were struggling both to heat and to eat and are now able to come and have some lunch at our Place of Welcome.

A great thing about this is it brings together a mix of people who wouldn’t necessarily meet otherwise. Those staying after a communion service at church, those stopping by before toddler group or popping in after school. It really is church and community coming together in the space.

A member of the home economics team at the school approached us asking for more information about the Places of Welcome project and suggested the students would like to get involved by preparing the soup for us! Looking back it was just one of those amazing moments.

The principles of Places of Welcome have helped us focus on hospitality. Some visitors have become volunteers, as this is their place. That’s one of the things I’d really like to see grow. I also spoke to a young volunteer, and she shared that before her grandma had passed away she had also been attending another Places of Welcome in her town. Hearing St Paul’s was starting a similar thing, this young woman was motivated to volunteer and be part of providing the same experience and support which her grandma so enjoyed for others.