Children's summer holiday club

Opening our kitchen for refugees

Some of the families we work with are refugees who have been housed in local hotels. One of the many things they miss is being able to prepare and cook their own food. Families seeking asylum are given access to the Centre’s kitchen where they are able to cook and eat together as a family. Referrals are increasing so we have scheduled an extra day for this activity to meet the growing need.

We also set up and ran a weekly play and learning experience for families with young children living in the London Metropole Hotel. Home Office funding enabled us to provide appropriate play equipment, books and toys to take to the hotel which helped us deliver enjoyable, stimulating and much welcomed sessions.

New study club

The new Wednesday study club for older children and young people fulfils a very important function for the families we work with providing space, support and encouragement. Children tell us that they really appreciate the quiet atmosphere, the facilities provided and the help they are given with their work by volunteers.

Gardening goodness

With private outdoor space so scarce for families in inadequate or temporary accommodation, exploring the natural world in the safety of the Centre’s garden helps to grow children’s familiarity and confidence in the outdoors. Whole families have started to take responsibility for the crops and look after them.

Everyone gets involved in the fun and learning opportunities that the garden offers. The children in gardening club have been busy with a variety of activities including; measuring themselves against their sunflowers; making elderflower cordial; baking bread from the wheat that they grew and harvested; and picking the tomatoes for our summer programme lunches. Our wonderful gardening volunteer says she regularly learns something new from the families who come to work in the garden.

Never too old to learn

Some parents said they were in need of support with learning practical English they could use in their everyday life, and we started English conversation sessions for them.

‍Donate to help more families

The rising tide of the cost-of-living is sweeping away young people, families and children’s low wages, rising rents and a lack of affordable housing has created a perfect storm for people who were already struggling. Struggling to pay rent, bills and foods will leave the lowest income households leaves nothing for travelling to work, school, prescriptions, sanitary pads, school uniforms, whitegoods putting the safety and security of home at risk.

As we did during the pandemic, we expect to see the additional stresses of the cost of living crisis put vulnerable families at even greater risk of family breakdown and homelessness.