Frequently I come across people who fall between the gaps of existing service provision and quite often these can be working people, which seems odd at first because having a job can be equated with a modicum of financial and material security. Sadly, some sections of the working populace can find that their job is the only security they have and Charities like the Manna are of immense assistance to them.
I interviewed CL just after Christmas last year. She was working on a Zero-hour contractual basis and had been staying with a friend. She had a major disagreement with her friend and was thrown out suddenly. CL was now staying in a backpacker hostels (they allow a maximum stay of two weeks) and at the Marylebone Women’s Project which will allow women a three-night stay in their shelter provided they can register in time and a drop- in – Centre which is open for 24 hours a day. CL’s finances did not permit her to stay at hostels for long, she would often go to the Marylebone Project. She needed an address for her mail, so I instituted mail permission for her.
She was enthralled at the services we offer here. She had heard of us through word of mouth. She told me that she would ask bus drivers to allow her to ride for free when she had insufficient funds. She needed to get to work and back to Marylebone that day so I topped her Oyster card up with £15.
A week later the temperature had dropped and when she arrived she was shivering and tentatively asked whether I could let her have a jacket as the only one she had was lightweight. It was on a day when the clothing store did not usually operate but one of the Servery staff sourced a jumper and jacket for her.
I saw her two weeks later, she had made a homeless application and needed some documents to be downloaded and printed as her laptop had broken. She also wanted to go to see her case worker as she could not contact him (completely believable I have had the dubious pleasure on many occasions). I advised her that the sheer numbers that the case workers had to deal with made them virtually unreachable by telephone. Her problems were compounded by the fact that her mobile phone had developed a fault and it wasn’t insured and she could not afford to fix it. I called a charity to see whether they could offer her a phone – Manna did previously have a stock of mobile phones but these all been given to service users.
I contacted a company who didn’t have any phones but could offer a reconditioned lap-top. CL indicated that she would find this very useful so I ordered this for her. As I couldn’t source a mobile phone anywhere, I ordered her a non-smart Nokia phone for which she was very grateful and a further Oyster top-up. As she was a diminutive figure who was travelling around with her cumbersome baggage, storing them temporarily when she could, she was also grateful for details of a homeless storage service. It did feel good to have helped her to help herself as she continues to search for affordable accommodation in London.