Ealing Abbey Parish Lenten Project
Supporting:
EALING CHURCHES WINTER NIGHT SHELTER(ECWNS)
Matthew 25:35 “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
Our Parish Lenten Project this Jubilee Year will help support the life-changing work Ealing Winter Night Shelter (ECWNS) do to alleviate homelessness. We have been supporting ECWNS since 2013.
ECWNS impact the wider community by offering a unique service to the borough’s rough sleepers; providing food, a safe and warm space to sleep, and, importantly companionship, every night to 14 people from November to March each year.
Bring Hope on the Journey to Easter:
Could you help make a difference this Lenten season, by being a pilgrim of hope to support ECWNS and our Lenten Project?
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Make a donation of any amount
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£40 (that’s £1 for each day of Lent)
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£50 pays for 5 evening meals and 5 breakfasts
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£100 pays for 10 evening meals and 10 breakfasts
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£500 gives one shelter guest access to a phone and travel card for five months to travel to shelter venues, health and legal appointments and to travel to view prospective permanent accommodation
DONATE HERE – 2025 LENTEN APPEAL
Ealing Abbey Parish Lenten Project
Second Collection – Dates Weekend of 15th/16th March 2025 (WK 2 Lent)
ECWNS will be speaking at the 6pm mass – Saturday, 15th March (Chantella) and 9am, 10.30am, 12noon and 7pm masses (Nilesh and Jill Coombs)– Sunday 16th March 2025.
Background Information about ECWNS:
The problem:
The number of people in London who find themselves no longer living in their home is reaching unprecedented levels, as the cost-of-living crisis and the continual economic situation continues to cripple many. The London Borough of Ealing has the 3rd highest level of rough sleepers across the Capital with 710 people were reported to be sleeping rough on Ealing’s Streets in 2022/23, up from 563 the previous year. This is not acceptable.
How Ealing Churches Winter Night Shelter addresses the problem:
Since 2011, Ealing Churches Winter Night Shelter (ECWNS) has delivered a truly unique service to the borough’s rough sleepers by providing food, a safe and warm space to sleep, and, importantly companionship, every night to 14 people from November to March each year (20 weeks). They work with 21 churches across the borough, supported by 200 volunteers, and we have been working with ECWNS at Ealing Abbey since 2013. Ealing Churches Winter Night Shelter is the only organisation in Ealing providing emergency night shelter over the five winter months. They provide a dedicated support worker providing one to one support to shelter guests. The support worker offers signposting and support around accessing medical and legal services (eg settled status.) The support worker also sources and supports guests into permanent and dignified accommodation. In the 2023/24 season, we provided support to 53 rough sleepers, securing permanent accommodation for 17 people.
One of ECWNS recent night shelter guests was taken from his family at a young age and subsequently trafficked. ECWNS were his home. ECWNS ran Ealing’s only Christmas and New Year night shelter, for 10 nights in 2023/24, which was a first for Ealing. Without this support, their guests would have been sleeping on Ealing’s Streets – cold, lonely and vulnerable. ECWNS also ran the Christmas Night Shelter again, this year of which Ealing Abbey has supported since 2013, with Deacon Alex leading this two years in a row.
How does ECWNS operate?
ECWNS are a registered charity which is run by a small group of Trustees and have two part-time members of staff – an administrator and a shelter worker. In the last four years, they have enabled 46 people to find and remain in permanent accommodation, including 17 people in 2024.
Following the breakdown of her marriage and her mental and physical health, the current shelter worker, became a guest of the night shelter throughout the winter of 2017. She was supported by ECWNS to find accommodation, a volunteering role and subsequently, she was offered the role of our shelter worker.
You can hear her story in this short video about our work.
This lived experience enables her to act with immense empathy, with one-night shelter guest saying, “I felt safe and cared for. Being a lone female on the streets was scary. With the help of the shelter worker, I managed to view some rooms in the area and with her help, I accepted the nicest room. She also helped me get bedding and gave me some vouchers to start my new life.”
You can find out more about ECWNS here