2001/2002  Annual Report
West London Initiative on Single Homelessness		The People Who Give Their Time 2. At Christmas

The search for the building for WISH’S Roof starts in the preceding summer. The building must be 5,000 to 10,000 square feet; in or close to West London with mains water, sewerage and power supply. Space also has to be available for showers, toilets and cooking facilities. Initially contact is renewed with people and organisations that have provided buildings in the past. If this does not provide a suitable response then large corporations, local authorities etc. are contacted. The Internet is also used to search for commercial agencies and contact details. Word of mouth has also proved useful and any lead of a building that appears to be vacant is followed up. In the months leading up to the beginning of December very many phone calls are made, letters written, some buildings inspected and the aims and needs of WISH explained to numerous people and organisations. Often our hopes are raised only to be dashed and sometimes it feels as if we will not be successful but come the beginning of December we start setting up the Roof.

Once the building is handed over to WISH the layout of the Roof is planned and simultaneously orders are placed for skips for all the rubbish and Porta-cabins to provide toilets and showers. All orders are place with short notice but in only a matter of days electricity, gas and telephones are ordered and connected. The preparation of the building for the Roof begins with clearing the site and making it secure. At first there is a sense of too much to do and things going much too slowly. Donations are sought for everything from floor covering to bedding. Once the flooring is fitted and equipment is taken out of store, or delivered from hire companies, there is suddenly a feeling of panic and late nights are worked. Donations of food, clothing and bedding begin to arrive and volunteers begin to unpack and sort clothing, stack bedding and pile gifts of food. Purchases of food and goods arrive and have to be checked and stored. Volunteers are contacted and site meetings held. Volunteers shift rotas are drawn up and scanned to ensure that everything is covered.
 
 

Name	Dom
Day job	Tree Surgeon
WISH jobs	Roof Set up Volunteer  Roof Barber
Favourite Colour	Blue
How WISH makes a difference
	During set up, watching the building change from a cold shell into a welcoming place, is exciting although hard work. Each year, I say that I will be "the Roof barber" for a couple of hours, but as soon as I arrive, I find there is such a demand that I am always persuaded to take just one more client and to come back for "one more day". As well as making the guests feel better, the chat that naturally accompanies the cutting adds to the companionship that makes the atmosphere of the Roof so good. The guests are a diverse group, wanting a hair cut for a job interview, a change or because they haven't a cut since last year. The requests have been even more varied, a range of hairstyles; a beard trim and even styling a wig! I am sure I'll be the barber again next year - but just for a couple of hours!

 

Volunteers’ skills are matched to the setting up tasks that need to be done. Setting up the Roof requires electricians, plumbers, carpenters but it also needs volunteers who will sort and arrange clothing, drivers to pick up donations and those who will lift, stack or move anything or everything when needed. The televisions are installed, seating arranged, the kitchen, clothing store and medical rooms are in place. The Christmas decorations go up and in a few hours the doors will open and the Roof will begin. Check lists are scanned -has everything been done?The shift leaders and their assistants, many of whom were new to the role, worked hard to keep things running smoothly and allocating tasks to the other volunteers.
Volunteers were posted at the gate to welcome the guests. 66 guests joined us for the first meal. All meals were prepared in the shelter kitchen, under the direction of the chef. A team of helpers worked hard in the kitchens, where food preparation was almost constant, a large number of vegetables needed chopping and washing up took up the rest of their time.
Others arrived during the afternoon and 54 stayed the night. Some guests came and went during the day, visiting us for the meals or for a particular service; others spent the day elsewhere and returned to us after dark; the majority remained at the Roof 24 hours a day throughout. The last night was the busiest, when 77 slept at the Roof. In total WISH provided 482 bed space nights.
	Throughout each day volunteers manned the luggage store and tea point, stocked and cleaned the toilets and showers, helped in the clothing store or office, drove vans to collect donations or the mini bus to pick up more guests and most importantly sat talking and listening to our guests
The atmosphere of the Roof was calm and relaxed throughout. Some guests enjoyed the arts and crafts and brightened up the building further by adding to the decorations. A few guests steadily worked their way through the pile of jigsaws, one guest seemed to do nothing else! The donations of books meant that we had a very extensive library which must have catered for all possible tastes and several guests had not finished the ones they were engrossed in at the end of the Roof so had to take the books with them.