Hi, I’m Karolina, an Advice Worker here at The Manna Centre. My colleagues and I are fundraising to help our friend and long-time volunteer – Z (for confidentiality reasons, we will refer to him as Z throughout this message). We are trying to raise funds for Z’s solicitor fees related to his immigration application. The … Read more
(Fictitious names have been used throughout to protect identities) I interviewed Ranco as a “Walk in” appointment. He was so, clean cut and well-presented that it was difficult to believe he was homeless until someone else later corroborated this fact. Ranco was Eastern European and had a weak grasp of English. He said that he … Read more
I often think that working with clients to help them resolve an issue can be compared to opening a Matryoshka Doll Set- just as you take apart the first doll there is another inside it and so can it be with our clients who initially present one issue during an advice appointment, but it is … Read more
Our Spring 2025 Newsletter can be viewed HERE
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 … Read more
Quite often Advisors find they go above and beyond to serve our clients. I initially saw SG as a walk-in client at the beginning of December. She was homeless, her English was faltering but it sounded as though she had sought assistance from one housing charity but they had not successfully housed her and now … Read more
HO a newly recognised Refugee, attended her housing appointment with a friend who assisted with interpretation, one morning early in November. Like most Refugees whom I interview, she had become homeless after her Refugee status was granted. She said that she had become stressed and anxious in Norwich where the Asylum accommodation had been located; … Read more
L, A 75-year-old gentleman had made a Homeless application to a London Council eight months previously. He had been placed in Temporary Accommodation whilst Officers made their enquiries. The Council decided that he was not in priority need for housing and therefore they had no legal obligation to accommodate him. When I first saw him … Read more
TF’s calm and softly spoken voice and calm exterior belied the depth of anxiety he was in. He was a council tenant, and his son had joined a gang and allegedly threatened TF with a knife. TF had reported this to the Police and to his Neighbourhood Housing Officer whom he had little faith in, … Read more
I often find that a client will present one issue for assistance and whilst dealing with this you discover others which require a simultaneous solution because they are significant to the resolution of the first. Such was the case with Mr AZ. He came as a Walk In appointment, requesting to use the phone to call … Read more
