Sean Andrews Writes…

Those who come to us are a mix of ex-offenders, recovering addicts who’ve lost their homes, the vulnerably housed and the homeless. They come to our weekly drop-in for breakfast, rounds of toast and plenty of tea and coffee.

Recently, in honour of one of our volunteers Dezzy – he was Church Army’s 2022 volunteer of the year – we set up Westcliffe Pantry. When Dezzy first came to us, he was a real lost soul, but he came back to life volunteering with us. If it hadn’t been for this place, I think we’d have lost him a long time ago.

When he passed away this year, I officiated his funeral, and the fee and collection went to purchase food and toiletries for the pantry. So, it’s Dezzy’s Pantry really. I think he would be really delighted with it!

It’s predominantly for those who come to our drop-in. They give a minimum of £5 a month and for that they get 15 points. This allows them to ‘purchase’ the items they need from the pantry.

You know, we meet some amazing people, but through one way or another, they’ve made a mistake or made a wrong turn, maybe a few wrong turns, and it’s a privilege to help bring them back.

They see what we do here as ‘real Christianity’. Some have experienced quite a bit of ‘strings-attached’ Christianity, but we don’t care who they are or where they’ve come from,

WE JUST WANT THEM TO KNOW THIS IS A SAFE PLACE.

Claire* came to us recently out of prison. And she surprised all of us when we learnt that in the 40 years of her life, she’d never been given a birthday card. What can have happened in her life to have lived four decades and never received a birthday card, from anybody? I decided this was the year to change that and I got one sent to her.

To see her bound in, so excited that the ‘vicar’ got her a birthday card, it made everybody smile! We want people to know that the world is a far better place with them in it. We try to keep people going and build them up.

Sean Andrews, Scunthorpe Centre of Mission