Sacred Heart Church has had a close affiliation with local charity Faith In Action Merton Homelessness Project (FIA) since the very early beginnings of the charity in 1994. Father Gerard Mitchell SJ, parish priest at that time, was one of the co-founders of the charity and was instrumental in kick-starting the project by organising and participating in a sponsored sleep-out which raised £10,000.

FIA aims
FIA began when several faith groups came together in the London Borough of Merton and identified “homelessness” as a key priority for action. They agreed to work together. As a registered charity, FIA is now made up of a team of staff and volunteers from different faith groups and none. We aim to provide support, information and assistance to those ‘hard to reach’ individuals, including those with addictive behaviours, who are homeless or precariously housed and for whom there are currently gaps in service provision.

Drop-in Centre
FIA runs a twice-weekly Drop-in centre for homeless people at the Salvation Army Citadel in Kingston Road, South Wimbledon every Wednesday and Friday. The Drop-in offers friendship; meals – breakfast, a cooked two course lunch and snacks; food parcels and clothes for rough sleepers. Showers and laundry facilities are also available. Strong links exist between FIA and local statutory and voluntary services like the Community Mental Health Team, Primary Care Trust, Street Rescue and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Staff and volunteers
FIA employs two Co-Project Managers who operate as a full-time equivalent job share and a part-time Project Worker. In addition, currently some 20+ volunteers support the Project. Parishioners from Sacred Heart are, and have been from the outset, involved in supporting the project as trustees and Drop-in volunteers.

On both Drop-in days, a small team of volunteers work in the kitchen and cook three dishes for lunch. The remainder of the volunteers work on a rota basis to help with a range of tasks such as distributing clothing; supervising the laundry and shower service; greeting and offering companionship to the clients; joining the clients in leisure activities such as playing bingo, table tennis and other games; setting-up and tidying away; and generally supporting the paid staff.

Clients
On average we see and feed between 45 to 55 service users on each Drop-in day. As fewer facilities become available for this client group, we have found that we are drawing in increased numbers of highly vulnerable and disadvantaged homeless people, mainly younger men, from a wider area of South London than just Merton.

Funding
To run the two days of the Drop-in costs £66,000 per annum. Fund-raising is a constant challenge. We have recently launched our ‘Square Meal Fund’. A donation of £5 per month paid by standing order pays for 2 square meals for a client. 1,000 people each donating £5 per month would secure the funding of the project. For a Gift Aid and standing order form please [click here].

To know more
If you are interested in supporting the Square Meal Fund or volunteering to help FIA, please contact either Nicki Zisman or Andy Fairbairn, Co-Project Managers, on 07843 280 419 or email: faithinactionwimbledonguild [dot] co [dot] uk

See also: Sacred Heart Soup Run