Volunteers recognised for helping homeless
GLORIA, 57, WINS AWARD FOR WORK WITH LOCAL GROUPS
“THE first week we went out I’ll never forget, we had a lad who was so thirsty he asked for water and he drank it down in seconds,” said volunteer Gloria Gardner who has made thousands of sandwiches to give out to rough sleepers around London Victoria.
When the pandemic started she was already a helper at the winter night shelter organised from Chelsea Methodist Church on the King’s Road.
Usually 50 people would enjoy a three-course meal at the shelter and there was space for 35 to sleep there.
When lockdown started, Gloria also started making sandwiches to give to people on the streets.
The first night she recalled she made 50 sandwiches after her employers at Waitrose in Belgravia gave a donation.
“We went from making 50 to 100, to 260 and there was a team of volunteers around London, at King’s Cross, Victoria, Embankment and Waterloo.
“We were making 260 sandwiches a day, it was like a military operation,” she recalled.
It’s estimated Gloria and her local team in Kensington buttered and filled more than 29,000 sandwiches in the first four months of lockdown.
She said a call out for volunteers was made at St Andrew’s church in Park Walk, Kensington and it grew by word of mouth with people rolling up their sleeves to prepare the snacks.
She’s also made gallons of vegetable soup from the kitchen at St Mary’s presbytery, behind Sloane
Square. And they were also giving out slices of cake for those with a sweet tooth.
Some of the homeless people she encountered did not want to stay in the accommodation provided by the ‘Everyone In’ scheme designed to protect rough sleepers from coronavirus. She explained that some people with complex issues such as drug or alcohol or poor mental health could find it difficult.
Victoria has long been known as a place where rough sleepers gather.
“I have seen 50 or 60 people a day at Victoria. People walk miles. At the beginning of lockdown we have seen lots of couples because their landlords did not want them to stay. People were very nervous,” said Gloria.
At first she was going out three times a week and has now cut it back to two as things are getting busier in Victoria.
Now the peak of the pandemic has hopefully receded the economic problems remain.
And Ms Gardner and volunteers like her plan to carry on supporting people.
Gloria herself had Covid over Christmas and slept for 20 hours a day.
But now the 57-year-old grandmother has recovered she is determined to carry on.
“It’s something I feel passionate about. Sometimes it’s the loneliness and people just want someone to talk to them and share a kind word.
“I go every Tuesday and people go out on Sunday too,” she said.
This April when the temperature dropped dramatically they ran out of soup, food and hot drinks.
“It felt like minus five,” said Ms Gardner. I carry emergency supplies.
“One young woman who worked in hospitality was begging to get into a hostel. She needed a suitcase as her suitcase broke.” And she signposts people to other help if possible.
Gloria has been given an award in the annual Kensington and Chelsea Mayor’s awards for her work with homeless group Glass Door – the Mayor’s charity this year – and Under One Sky.
Kensington and Chelsea Mayor Gerard Hargreaves said:
“I am always humbled to see people go above and beyond to help others and the kindness in our borough has never been more apparent than during the last year.
“Volunteers and organisations like the ones we have honoured in this year’s awards have been the lifeblood of the community, making such a big difference to the lives of others in the hardest of times.”
“There are so many people helping. I am just a small cog in a very big wheel.,” said Ms Gardner.
“At one end of the scale you have people who work in a nail bar and you’ve got somebody living in a £10 million home making sandwiches. Everybody came together, everybody,” she said.
I am always humbled to see people go above and beyond to help others.
Gloria Gardner