2001/2002  Annual Report
West London Initiative on Single Homelessness		The People Who Give Their Skills

Some volunteers had particular skills, which were put to use during the Roof:
	The barber transformed a number of guests after which they seemed more confident and relaxed.
	First aiders and nurses provided care and advice throughout the 24 hours
	We had a team of 8 doctors, which was more than usual, and surgeries ran for 2 or 3 hours, once or twice a day.

57 guests were seen in the first aid room. Approximately half of the guests seen in the first aid room had significant previous medical problems, including 4% with a past history of Tb. Asthma, Drug /Alcohol and Mental Health problems were the commonest, with several  guests having two or more of these.
A large variety of conditions were seen and treated.

	The dentist worked every day for the entire week and enabled us to provide a regular and excellent service.
	The advice worker helped guests with housing / money / legal and other problems and some guests left the Roof to go to more permanent accommodation.
	A team of carpenters, plumbers, electricians and people with a combination of practical skills kept the site running smoothly.

The evenings at the end of the week could not quite be described as calm but this was because we were lucky to have some live entertainment. First up was Swing Therapy which described itself as playing jazz classics but they were soon taking requests from the crowd and covered a wide variety and included a bit of kareoke. There was a double bill on the Saturday starting peacefully with a local church choir who sang carols and a few other popular numbers. To most people's surprise, their keyboard player stayed on to accompany Dr Bob and his loud (very) R&B band who were also joined by many playing air guitar. People asked how one guest managed to watch TV throughout this performance. It was decided he must be deaf. On the final night, after everyone had had a full roast beef dinner, personally carved at the "table" by chef, there was more dancing to the sound of Moondance whose rock and roll hits could also be heard in the kitchen in the next building.
By the end of the week, although tired, all involved felt that WISH had achieved its aim of providing a "family" Christmas for the homeless population of West London. We received a Christmas card signed by the guests thanking us for a good time.
 

Name	Chris
Day job	Sales Manager
WISH jobs	Roof Set up Volunteer  Roof Chef Raised funds by completing the Iron Man Triathlon
Favourite Occupation	Watching the washing up being done!!!!
How WISH makes a difference
	To me WISH makes a difference because it’s large enough to have the ability to help all year round with the Breakfast Club, as well as being able to organize the important Christmas Roof. At the same time WISH is small enough to appreciate every guest and user as an individual, and therefore able to supply them with a more caring atmosphere. By the end of the Roof each year all the volunteers are like one big family which is probably why we see so many of them back each year.