The Saviour Trust has been providing shelter for the down and outs and the dispossessed for three years and has just bought its seventh house. Last month it was nominated at the prestigious West Yorkshire Justice Awards. AWAKE reported in a recent article:
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Wayne (left) and Harry (right) help dish up in the soup kitchen and drop in centre held in the church hall two afternoons and one evening every week.
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“A couple turned up at church last night.” Rev Vic Iwanuschak, priest in charge at All Saints, Pontefract tells me.
“They’re only youngsters, she’s pregnant and they’ve been sleeping in a tent on Pontefract racecourse. They say there’s loads of them down there, all homeless. ”
It’s Monday morning and Vic, Wayne Phillips and Harry Merrick could be forgiven for resting on their laurels for just one day to savour the fledgling charity’s triumph at being nominated at the West Yorkshire Justice Awards. The Saviour Trust – run with the help of many church volunteers – was nominated for the best example of joint working across the Criminal Justice System. Not bad for a priest, a former squaddie turned roofer and a man who didn’t get out of bed for 10 years due to depression.
Vic hit the headlines three years ago when he let Craig, a potentially violent ex-offender, sleep in his shed. Wayne, a former squaddie who then worked in the maintenance department for the local authority, had been born again at All Saints and at that time was the parish evangelist, and as Vic said: “We were all of the same spirit and the Lord opened the doors ..literally.”
Craig was the beginning. He’d come out of a Category A prison and because of his background and his criminal record no-one wanted to know him. He couldn’t get help from anywhere. He was kicking around the church grounds afraid of being assaulted whilst sleeping rough and Vic let him sleep there. They built him a shelter from corrugated iron. After six months, Vic let Craig sleep in his shed. The PCC agreed Craig could sleep in the church hall until his housing issues were resolved. Vic spoke out in the press about Craig’s plight and a local newspaper launched a campaign and soon other organisations like the Probation Service, the local Primary Health Care Trust came forward to work together and they got him a flat to live in.
Two years ago All Saints church set up The Saviour Trust as a charitable housing project with a difference. It successfully applied for grants and bought its first house out of church funds. It has now gone into partnership with Green Pastures, which was set up by Pastor Pete Cunningham in Southport in 1999 who cashed in his pension plan to buy flats when a desperate young family turned up on his doorstep. Green Pastures now has a £14m property portfolio and works with similar faith organisations up and down the country to try to eradicate homelessness in Britain. Together they have housed 800 homeless people and begun to provide them with the pastoral care and support to move on in life.
In Pontefract, The Saviour Trust is in the process of buying its seventh house. These are leased to ex offenders and others on the margins of society and a package of help from psychiatric services to drug and alcohol support units, is put in place to help those tenants get back on their feet and stop the spiralling cycle of crime and abuse. They have just started a soup kitchen and drop in centre in the church hall three times a week.
Said Vic: “I remember reading this article about Pastor Pete’s vision some years ago. It was that faith backed up with sacrifice that really spoke to us. But first we had to get the church behind the work, so we were all of one mind. ”
And that’s exactly what they did. Craig turned up, Wayne had already turned up. Wayne was knocking on doors up and down the streets of Pontefract spreading the word of God and found Harry and so on and so on…
“Every client we have in our houses is seen every week and gets help in whatever way they need, from budgeting, medical, drugs, alcohol, everyone has got to work together and you’ve got to keep on top of it,” explained Vic.
“What we’re about is immediate and sustainable care. Doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, if you turn up on our doorstep you will get shelter and all you need until you’re standing on your own two feet.
“Most of what we are doing is to stop crime and stop people hurting others and themselves.
“It’s a long hard road and the need is massive” he said.
If you think you can help The Saviour Trust in anyway at all, please call 01977 600335.
(Reproduced with kind permission of AWAKE magazine)
