Helping Homeless People: When Steven Payne set off on his first wacky journey; it didn’t cross his mind how it would change his life! Now helping homeless people is part of who he is.
All in 6 weeks his life fell to pieces, he lost his Father, lost his job by being made redundant and then his girlfriend left him and he developed Leukemia!
He decided to go on a 14th Century pilgrimage to Canterbury and to think. After writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope for permission to shelter in the Churches along the way and receiving a yes naturally he set off.
The main reason was to get back in touch with what he wanted out of life. He encountered many homeless people on his three week journey to Canterbury.
Sharing much wisdom in this episode, with how to approach homeless people, what to help them with and the questions we should ask and in fact not ask them. He is studying an MBA in history and is a fascinating person to learn from and shares some deep insights.
He also shares why he decided to do this first historical pilgrimage and then to row to Wales in a small 3ft boat and to then last year impressively bounce across the alps on a spacehopper”!
There are many organisations locally and globally who are assisting people who are down on their luck and we discuss the amazing things that are going on in Chichester and in Oxford with a trial of a new QR code fundraising technology from Greater Change which assists people to not only raise money but to use that money for the right things and they even link it to a bank account etc.
We also discuss Blacks Leisure and how they gave Steven a 50% discount to purchase a pair of boots for a homeless man in Chichester.
In addition many of the local Churches and other charities have got together to help people in the Chichester area, in particular St. Pancras Church has been doing a lot in this area with a local Church partnership and I will be finding out more soon about that and will update this article with the information.
St Pancras have been helping homeless people by raising a considerable amount of money and they provide assistance with food, shelter, exercise classes and emotional support within the City of Chichester. We are very lucky to have such a vibrant, caring community and all these amazing Churches and Charities supporting people in and around the area and even further afield.
Listen to the episode and do let us know if you have any bright ideas for future ideas for Steven to raise awareness around this important topic and if you want to donate food or money then I recommend you approach your local Church or charity and help some people or perhaps approach someone on the streets and help them directly.
Sometimes it is just a smile and a kind word that can help them and in fact many other people in life who are finding it tough would also benefit from a bit of kindness.
If you are an organisation looking to get involved in helping homeless people to fund-raise:-
Contact Greater Change in Oxford here to discuss how they can help your city, Church or charity with their digital payment solution and ask for Alex McCallion :- https://www.greaterchange.co.uk/homepage
Get Steven on Facebook Here to suggest an idea:-
https://www.facebook.com/steven.payne.3139
Pilgrims Progress Facebook Page Here
https://www.facebook.com/14thcenturypilgrimsprogress/
St Pancras Church, Chichester here