Denise and Rosie complete challenges
This February, we are celebrating two fundraisers completing challenges and smashing their targets. Denise Smith, who set out to raise £7,000 for Catching Lives with a ‘7 for 70’ challenge to mark her 70th birthday, has raised more than £10,000 including gift aid. She came into the Day Centre this week to present us with a cheque. Read more about Denise’s challenge and her reflections.
Meanwhile, Catching Lives’s Volunteer Coordinator Rosie Bartlett finished her sponsored ‘150 days of movement’ at the Barcelona Half Marathon. She raised more than £1,000. She said: “I've found strength and resilience in myself again which has been really empowering".” Read more and view a gallery of photos.
Our Winter Appeal is now at more than 80% of the £50,000 target. It will run for one more month until the end of March. The Canterbury Community Shelter runs until mid-March and our Day Centre is open 365 days a year.
Beyond The Margins
If you missed Jason Knott’s photography exhibition during the Canterbury Festival last year, there is one last chance to see the very moving images featuring Catching Lives clients, staff and volunteers at The Gulbenkian Theatre until the end of March.
The portraits give poignant insight to the lives of people experiencing homelessness and were captured when photographer and filmmaker Jason spent a year building rapport with those who wanted to take part. Read more about the original exhibition.
Catching Lives Spring Quiz
Catching Lives is holding another quiz to raise money at STAG Coffee, Marlowe Arcade, on Wednesday, March 26. Ticket price includes a sharing board for each table plus a raffle ticket per person. Extra raffle tickets will be £1 each.
Teams can be made up of two to six people. Money raised will help people experiencing homelessness get essential support and a safe route off the streets. RSVP to georgia@catchinglives.org.
Meet the volunteers
Our Meet the volunteers feature celebrates the amazing people at the heart of Catching Lives. Althea Walker has been volunteering with us for five years. She started as a kitchen volunteer and now comes in weekly to support our project workers in the centre.
How did you hear about the volunteering opportunity?
From St Thomas's Church newsletter in December 2018 asking for night shelter volunteers.
Why choose Catching Lives?
It appealed to me as I used to help with the Soup Run for the homeless in London from my church.
What are some joys you have experienced since starting with Catching Lives?
Meeting excellent staff who are friendly, kind, knowledgeable and give vital information to the clients who use the centre. Talking and listening to the needs of the clients. I have learnt quite a few card games from the clients too! I love talking and listening to people, whoever they are.
What would you say to someone thinking about volunteering with Catching Lives?
Go ahead and sign up, you'll love volunteering at Catching Lives!
Outside of Catching Lives, how do you like to spend your time?
Holidaying around UK or overseas, watching cinematic biopic films, reading autobiographies, newspapers, church magazines etc. Catching up on WhatsApp with overseas family and friends and going with my husband in his classic car for shows around Kent and SE England. I was commissioned in 2014 as a Herne Bay Street Pastor until it stopped in 2022. At present I attend 'Pray for the Bay' monthly, with other Herne Bay churches.
What is your previous line of work/study?
After 46 happy years as a Registered Nurse, I retired in December 2019 as a Practice Nurse in Whitstable. Whilst in London, I was a Surgical Ward and District Nursing Sister.
What are your passions and interests?
Attending daily mass - I am an auxiliary member of St Vincent de Paul society. Still life art, pencil and water colours. Cooking all kinds of food. Stamp collecting. I liked jogging and ran in the 1987 London Marathon and a few half marathons in Cardiff, Reading and Dublin. Meeting retired friends for lunch/dinner monthly. I love musicals and go to the theatre often!
Volunteering Stats for February
Thank you to all our amazing volunteers for your ongoing support!
Thank you
A huge thank you to Dorota who has left Catching Lives after nearly 10 years as a Project Worker. She has shown huge commitment to the charity and its clients over the years, and we’ll miss having her in our team. Thank you to the Canterbury Courier for featuring Streets Ahead and to Kent Online for a lovely feature on The Crooked House, which houses the Catching Lives bookshop. Thank you to the Canterbury & Whitstable Lions Club for volunteering in the Day Centre kitchen and for a £500 donation. Thanks St Edmund's Junior School for £250 raised from a bake sale and Christmas Fair.
Thank you to everyone who has donated money, items or time. At the moment we are in need of tinned tomatoes, sugar and laundry detergent pods. Please bring any donations into the Day Centre in Station Road East any day between 9am and 4pm (until 1.30pm Wednesdays).
If you’d like to support our Winter Fundraising Appeal, please do so via JustGiving.
For more regular updates, please do keep an eye on our website, Facebook and Instagram for more updates until we write to you again in March.
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