The Crisis at Christmas volunteer
Michelle tuohy, 52, is a learning resource centre manager. She lives in Brookmans park, hertfordshire, with her husband Michael, 56, and son andrew, 14. each year she and Michael cook christmas dinner for hundreds of homeless people at crisis.
back in 1987, I found myself unable to get home from london to Glasgow for Christmas. I was just 21, and rather than spend Christmas alone, I decided to do some good and volunteered for Crisis, the homeless charity. I had no idea it would change my life forever.
Walking into the church hall in london’s Victoria, I was shaking with nerves. It was packed with people, waiting expectantly for what was likely to be their first proper meal in weeks. so, rolling up my sleeves, I put on a paper hat from a Christmas cracker, and got stuck in. as I dished up endless dinners, I started to relax. and chatting to the guests quickly put paid to any preconceptions I’d had about why people end up on the streets. I realised every story is completely different. and unless you’ve had the misfortune of being homeless, how could you ever understand what it’s like?
It’s humbling. all you are giving up is time, but these people have lost everything. they aren’t worried about the latest phone or tV programme. all they want is somewhere warm to sleep and something to eat.
once you’ve taken part in a Crisis Christmas, there’s no going back to normality. It’s exhausting, but the buzz is amazing. I volunteered again the following year, and it was at Crisis that I met michael, who’s now my husband. amazingly, he’s working his 40th Crisis Christmas this year, and runs a centre that looks after more than 300 homeless people over the festive period.
Volunteers work on the build-up for weeks beforehand, and of course all the clearing up. so when people say they’re busy over Christmas I just smile. Catering for a family lunch is nothing when you’re peeling potatoes for hundreds!
our son andrew was just five weeks old when we introduced him to our friends at Crisis. one of them bought him a little teddy bear that michael still wears in his shirt pocket during his shifts.
It’s wonderful to see people getting back on their feet, being reunited with friends, or coming back to volunteer with Crisis. It creates an unbreakable bond.
on the big day, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be. Christmas is all about spending time with special friends – it just so happens some of ours are homeless.