Charity of the year

Every year our membership selects, by vote, a charity that we will support for the coming year.  

For 2025 our chosen charity is CATCHING LIVES

Hi Pauline, 

Thank you for calling our centre earlier on this morning, it was great to chat with you, and we really appreciate that Crab & Winkle WI have chosen to support Catching Lives this year. Below is a bit of information about us, but if you want any more details on something specific, or want me to explain something further, please do let me know. 

Catching Lives is a day centre based in Canterbury, supporting people who are homeless or insecurely housed 365 days a year. Our centre is a safe space to help people to improve housing, health, and social connection. We have a dedicated team of project workers who offer our clients support with housing applications, benefits, and any other areas they may need some help with. We provide essential facilities such as:

  • Breakfast (toast, beans, cereals etc), and a 2-course lunch cooked by volunteers
  • Showers and toilets
  • Laundry 
  • Computer use
  • Care-of address
  • Storage facility for personal belongings
  • Clothes bank
  • Tents and sleeping bag provisions 

During our daily drop-in services, we also have external agencies who come in to support our clients with other things such as Porchlight for housing, Rising Sun for domestic abuse support, and Forward Trust for support with drug and alcohol misuse. Additionally, we have an NHS nurse who runs a weekly drop-in service, and a mobile dentist who visits regularly. 

We run an afternoon activities programme 4 days a week, for people who are currently using our services, or who may have moved into accommodation, as a way of maintaining social connections and learning new skills to boost confidence. Activities include cookery, yoga, gardening, and creative arts. These are a great opportunity for our clients to build their self -esteem and create a sense of stability, to help people take steps towards independent living.

If you have dates in mind further down the line for somebody to come and do a talk, please let me know and we can arrange for somebody to come. If there's anything else you need, I'll be more than happy to provide any support. 

I look forward to working with you over the coming months!
Best wishes, 

Georgia Jefferson

 

Over past years we have donated:-

2024 - 2025   Fifth Trust   £1064.50

2023 - 2024   Demelza and Pilgrims £387.50 each 

2021 - 2023    SERV Kent    £1084.96

2020 - 2021    Rising Sun Domestic Violence and Abuse. £350.00

2019 - 2020    Harmony Therapy Trust   £500.00

2018 - 2019    Porchlight   £480.00