It’s been something of a strange year for all of us across the world. As a charity, we have faced many new challenges and had to adapt to what some are calling the ‘new normal’.

Since our update in March we have been faced with the issues caused by COVID-19, which you can read about in our Newsletter. The one consistent in all of this is that we are always there for the most vulnerable – through normal times and during any crisis that happens in the country.

We are looking at some of the news stories we have posted during the past few months to reflect on some of the stories we have shared with you.

In March we shared a case study about our Re-Cycle Bikes project, which gives service users the chance to learn new life skills as well as helping improve their feeling of self-worth and mindfulness. Since then, the team at Jordan House has worked tirelessly to collect and refurbish bikes that have gone on to help Key Workers across Southampton and Portsmouth during the COVID-19 crisis.

As mentioned in our update in March, we were planning a week-long set of activities and events to give our female service users the chance to enjoy some mindfulness sessions, as well as pampering, new haircuts, and a bake-off competition. Hosting through our Horizons Project and with support from The Southern Co-op, the event was a huge success – and you can read about that here. 

And just before lockdown happened in March, we wrote about Café in the Park and some of the delightful food on the menu – whilst also reflecting on the Pay it Forward scheme. The café is once again open – but with a limited menu and outside seating only. If you get the chance to visit the café you can still Pay It Forward to help vulnerable people.

During the lockdown, we were delighted to learn that we had won an award at the Business Charity Awards, thanks to our partnership with The Southern Co-op. This came at a time when everybody was still coming to terms with ‘the new normal’ and was a welcome morale boost for all staff members and everybody involved in our partnership with The Southern Co-op.

The most important aspect of lockdown for us was making sure our service users had the support they needed. Louise Bolton shared her top tips for social distancing – which we had been using with the most vulnerable people in our care. As well as this, the tremendous support from you helped us brighten up lockdown for residents at St James Care.

More recently, thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund, we were able to purchase a new van which will help combat the impact of COVID-19 – allowing us to make essential deliveries of medication and more.

We’ve covered a lot of the community work in our Newsletter, which we highly recommend reading.

Winter 2020

We are now turning our focus towards the winter months. World Homelessness Week takes place this October and gives us the chance to ask people to think about what it means to be vulnerable and homeless. We also have several videos from our CEO which we will share across Social Media and of course, we are already looking at the cold winter months and planning to look after those in our care during that time.

Like our Facebook page: facebook.com/SocietyofStJames/

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/SSJCharity

Thank you for all your support. We will post another review in January.

The two organisations have been shortlisted for the Short-term Partnership category, which recognises the work done by SSJ and Southern Co-op as part of the co-operative’s ‘Love Your Neighbourhood’ programme.

The two organisations have been in partnership since early 2019 after colleagues at Southern Co-op’s head office voted for SSJ to become their charity partner of the year with a focus on tackling local crime, drug and alcohol addiction, and of course, homelessness.

The first year of partnership was such a success that the partnership has now been extended to 2020/21.

CEO of the Society of St James, Trevor Pickup, says: “We are really excited to have been shortlisted for a Business Charity Award alongside our partner Southern Co-op. This last year has really demonstrated for me how finding a good partner match can bring unimagined benefits for both parties.

“Of course the fundraising from Southern Co-op colleagues is so important to us but the time spent on a more strategic approach, particularly around sharing skills and knowledge, has brought many benefits across both organisations for staff, service users and the communities in which we operate.”

Southern Co-op initially focussed on SSJ’s social enterprise café, Café in the Park in Portsmouth, helping it to become more self-sustaining. The café provides opportunities for vulnerable adults supported by SSJ to build employability skills and grow in confidence to help sustain their new independence and recovery.

Together, they launched an idea that had originated from the disadvantaged adults working at the café – Pay It Forward. The initiative has enabled local people to help the homeless through a voucher scheme and, between  July 2019 and February 2020, SSJ sold more than 1,400 Pay It Forward vouchers.

“We are thrilled to be shortlisted for the Short Term Partnership Award. As a business, we have learnt so much from them, and we hope the skills we have shared will provide the charity with the opportunity to continue to grow and support some of the most vulnerable in our communities.”

Southern Co-op has also offered support through skills-based volunteering as its colleagues have shared their knowledge and experience with SSJ. Skill sharing has included marketing, training and professional advice from property and buying teams.

There has also been more traditional hands-on volunteering and fundraising, which have provided benefits for both organisations.

Already £11,500 has been raised, £4,250 volunteering hours spent and a further £15,000+ has been pledged.

In the spirit of true partnership, Southern Co-op has also benefitted from the collaboration through the expert knowledge the charity has around the subject of homelessness, drug/alcohol misuse and offending behaviour which has informed the development of strategic initiatives for the business.

SSJ and the Southern Co-op will find out if they are successful in mid-May. There is no awards ceremony this year due to COVID-19 and social distancing.

You might know that it is based in Victoria Park, Portsmouth. You might also know that it is one of our social enterprises and that it has become a popular go-to place for people in Portsmouth to enjoy a spot of lunch.

Something else which makes the café unique in Portsmouth is the Pay It Forward scheme, which was launched in July 2019 with support from our partner, Southern Co-op. In case you aren’t aware, Pay It Forward gives customers the chance to buy a voucher when they visit the Café in the Park, which provides a person affected by homelessness with a hot meal or drink. You can also donate online.

The menu has something for everybody – including vegans and vegetarians. I’ve visited numerous times and have always found something which suits my plant based diet – leaving me feeling very satisfied.

Let me introduce you to some of the delightful items you can enjoy when you visit the café.

Why not start your day within the beauty of the park and enjoy a ‘Full English’ breakfast, including sausage, bacon, fried egg, baked beans and a slice of toast – and wash it down with a cup of tea as you plan your day ahead. There is even a delicious Vegan alternative for people like me.

If you are visiting the café during the day, why not enjoy one of the tasty paninis or toasties. You can even tuck into one of our loaded spuds which can come topped with a selection of mouth-watering toppings such as bacon and brie, tuna mayo, cheese, as well as many other options.

You can also choose between a selection of sandwiches and even the soup of the day – which comes highly recommended as the perfect choice for a light lunch.

If you’re heading to the café with children, don’t fret! The café has a children’s menu with the children’s pick and mix box, children’s breakfast and half loaded spuds enough to keep hunger at bay. In the centre of the park is an area containing an aviary with peacocks, parrots and other exotic birds, in addition to another area with rabbits and guinea pigs that children can feed. There is also an adventurous play area for children. The main shopping area is just a few minutes away too – so the Cafe in the Park is great to have a lunch-break when shopping becomes tiring.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a café if it didn’t serve a selection of drinks, and there are plenty to choose from. You can sit back and relax with a cup of tea in hand, sample one of our flavoured milkshakes, and of course, for those who love coffee like me – choose from one of our hot coffee drinks like a latte, Americano, or a flat white – amongst others.

There are so many more options to enjoy, and every time you visit, you are helping support one of our social enterprises, which helps give opportunities to those who have been affected by homelessness. As well as this, you can even choose to pay it forward when you visit, so people who are affected by homelessness can also enjoy a hot meal or drink.

So what do you know about the Café in the Park? You know that the next time you are in the area you should pop in for a drink or something to eat.

Don’t forget to leave a review on the Café in the Park Facebook page.

We believe our partnerships have to be mutually beneficial providing funding, support and a raised profile for the charity; and for the corporate, an opportunity to build the brand, good public relations and the chance to really make a difference to help vulnerable adults turn their lives around.

We have been approached by no less than 15 local businesses since the start of the year offering their support to those with a history of homelessness – “this is just amazing and demonstrates the passion that local businesses have for supporting what is a very visible and current issue” says SSJ’s Business Development Manager, Michelle Jeffery.

The Society of St James has a lot of properties that need regular refurbishment and local businesses can save the charity up to £1,000 a day by providing a team of workers to do some decorating or gardening work. Some of them even come with money they have raised to purchase the materials required to complete the job.

Those taking part have a lot of fun but with the knowledge that they are making the lives of vulnerable adults just that little bit more tolerable. One participant from a large financial institution said “thank you so much for organising the day, we had lots of fun as a team and came away feeling like we had accomplished something”.

We love working with our corporate partners, those that turn up on the day give so much of themselves and really commit to doing a good job. Stewart, our Project Manager says “working with the corporate volunteers is great; they are always so willing to get stuck in and get the job done”.

Recently we were approached by local provider of technology solutions and services, SoftCat, to ask what they could do to help support those with a history of homelessness. They have committed to providing a team every quarter to support our maintenance work which is wonderful. Their first project was to transform a garden at one of the houses that supports those who are homeless and have alcohol dependency. The team were delighted when one of the residents decided he wanted to get involved and work with them on the garden.

Of course Corporate Partners can support the work that we do in other ways. When we were selected by colleagues at the Southern Co-op‘s Head Office in Portsmouth at the end of last year we had no idea what an exciting partnership lay ahead. They demonstrated the level of their commitment immediately by throwing the full weight of their marketing and PR resource behind our Pay It Forward initiative that has been so successful.

Since then they have been involved in so many parts of our business including looking at training opportunities, purchasing and property and most recently became our lead sponsor for our Sleep Out event in November. “It just takes a little time and commitment on both sides to have those initial creative thinking meetings to explore how we can help each other” says Michelle Jeffery Business Development Manager.

And the benefit of having the Southern Co-op on hand is an obvious one for Annette Davolls, Cafe in the Park Service Manager, she said: “there is barely a day goes by when there isn’t some correspondence with a part of the Southern Co-op Head Office team whether it’s to tell us about money that has been raised, throw in a new idea, offer some more resource or donations of products.”

Annette continued: “The most wonderful part has been to see the interaction between the vulnerable adults we work with and the colleagues from Southern Co-op and to see what a positive impact this is having on the self-esteem of our service users.”

We launched Pay It Forward at an event back in July thanks to the generous support of Southern Co-op. We welcomed representatives from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner,  local councillors and council staff as well as many members of the local community to the event, all of whom kick-started the donations. Since the launch, the generous Portsmouth community have donated 689 vouchers.

Staff and volunteers at the Café have been blown away by the generosity of the Café’s patrons; Café Manager Annette said “to be able to give out vouchers to disadvantaged people, have a chat with them, to be able to give a dad a voucher who otherwise would not be able to afford an ice-cream for his child on a hot day is just awe-inspiring”.  A staff member said “The homeless are so grateful – it’s great to be able to help them”.  Our chef told me proudly that “we’ve even had kids donating”.  All the customers think it’s a great idea and many have wondered why more Cafes don’t do the same thing!

As the vouchers are being distributed to the less fortunate word is getting out and patrons have been delighted to witness first-hand the benefits this single act of kindness can bring.  Craig said “It really helps with breaking the ice with the homeless – it’s great to get to know them.”

Craig continued: “patrons are asked to write comments to accompany the voucher, a recent patron wrote “hoping this little bit of kindness can bring warmth to your heart, a smile to your face and brighten your day…Enjoy.”

Initiated by staff at the Café, some of whom have experienced life on the streets, Pay It Forward is a way for the public to show they care by buying a voucher for someone less fortunate. In exchange for a £2 donation, those who are disadvantaged can get a hot drink or seasonal snack at the Café.  We then ensure that the vouchers are given to someone facing multiple disadvantages such as homelessness, poverty and/or substance misuse and will offer signposting to support if appropriate.

The Café in Victoria Park in Portsmouth is yet again going to be the focus of The Society of St. James’ activities when it plays host to the first Portsmouth based SSJ Sleep Out in November.  Supporters of the charity will collect sponsorship money to sleep out under the stars, so why not register now and join us in Victoria Park this November.

Southern Co-op colleagues have been working really hard to find different ways to support the work of the charity, and on Friday, it was the turn of Southern Co-op’s Chief Executive, Mark Smith and his senior leadership team. They met with SSJ’s Senior Management team at the Cafe in the Park, for an exploratory lunch.

Not only has Southern Co-op put the full weight of its communication and community teams behind the Pay it Forward campaign, at the Cafe in the Park, Portsmouth, but colleagues are also working hard to explore new ways to work with SSJ on future campaigns – to continue their work to help support the most vulnerable in society.

Speaking about the meeting on Friday (2nd), Chief Executive of the Society of St James, Trevor Pickup, said: “both organisations agreed to spend some time describing what we did, to see what natural areas of overlap may exist. This has the potential of us both being able to share relevant skills and experience, to the benefit of both organisations. I am excited to see what may develop as we get to know each other better.”

As part of their continued support, SSJ was chosen by colleagues at Southern Co-op’s head office to be their charity of the year.

We continue to be amazed by Southern Co-op’s commitment to us as a charity and we can’t wait to see where the partnership goes next!