Ben Askew

We love Lifeline, the homeless housing charity that Carl and Georgie set up in 2013!  They recently sent out an update looking back over their first 3 years,  we wanted to share what God has been doing with them here.

Looking Back.

It is hard to believe that this month it will be three years since Green Pastures bought us our first house in the January of 2013, with us housing people in the February.

I remember the first morning vividly. We had worked so hard to get the house ready after being blessed with so much help and assistance.

However, just as with a pregnancy all the hard work that went into getting us to that position was not the end but only  the beginning! Three men arrived with their bags and their hopes and dreams. One resident quickly moved on into fully independent accommodation, box ticked, job done, an immediate success under our belt! Another one of the men had some serious issues going on in his life. We treated him with dignity and respect but he was suffering far too much mental anguish to settle and he had to leave, so not so easy after all, in truth we always knew it would never be easy!

We then had the most amazing experience. It was tragic that it turned out that the third resident Richard was suffering with Cancer when he came into the house, unbeknown to him and us. His illness became a reality and in his suffering Georgie and I formed a close bond with him. We laughed cried and prayed with him. We were humbled by his bravery and hope in the face of such dire circumstances.  When he was in terrible pain one night he talked about “feeling a hand on his shoulder ” and we knew then that he was in safe hands. Richard passed on later in 2013 at his sister’s house in Blackpool, a miraculous set of circumstances reuniting him to his sister after having had no contact with his family for 20 years.

After that experience we knew that we would have to ‘expect the unexpected’ and that this was going to be a journey not a destination, but what a journey! Since those first residents moved in we can point to over 5,000 nights of residence in Lifeline houses, two residents who definitely would not now be alive if it wasn’t for our interventions, others being reunited with families, finding employment and finding themselves!

We still remain at the beginning and many challenges will lie ahead but after three years of the most amazing time I just wanted to thank all of you who have made it possible, our supporters, trustees, volunteers, support workers, mentors, clergy, Green Pastures and Harrogate Homeless Project.

What’s next?

We are delighted to announce the appointment of a new Housing & Support Officer for Lifeline!

With our third house opening in August last year it was always our intention to bring in an additional person to work with Trefor and Carl in supporting our residents.

We are therefore delighted to announce the appointment of Martyn Chenery who will start working with Lifeline from the 1st of February.

Martyn has worked in industry as well as working with vulnerable adults in both a paid and a voluntary capacity. Martyn is also an approved foster carer.  He brings with him a wealth of experience of working through difficult
issues with individuals facing challenges of addiction, homelessness, or encouraging young people to envisage a positive future.  We are therefore very excited about Martyn’s appointment and wish him all the very best in his career with Lifeline.

Ways to get involved

Prayer evening

Prayer is an integral part of what we do. We would like to invite you to an hours prayer for Lifeline at 5 Park Chase on Sunday 31st January at 7pm.

‘Friends of Lifeline’ evening

Our friends of Lifeline evening is for anyone who is interested in the work of Lifeline and would like to find out more, and/or would like to get involved in what we are doing, and for existing supporters and

friends of Lifeline. We are holding our next evening on Thursday 4th February at 7.30pm (this will be in the family room of Wetherspoons where we will eat a meal together and then we will give you an update on what is happening with Lifeline)

Carl and Georgie Good