Bristol Churches Shelter

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Bristol Churches Shelter (BCS) is a partnership of churches, governed by inHope, which provides accommodation to homeless people through the coldest months of the year.

For the fifth year running, the shelter is operation from a Guest House in Bristol and has blocked booked 9 rooms. The shelter be open for 5 months from November 2024 to March 2025.

Whilst guests stay at the shelter, we provide accommodation, volunteer support and meals. As well as this, a night manager is employed to ensure that guests and volunteers are kept safe overnight.

This year the shelter’s ethos has become more assertive in supporting people to move on. The shelter has a target of helping 23 people throughout the period, so it’s important to keep guests focused on their long term plans.

Referral partners St Mungo’s, Borderlands and the Bristol Hospitality Network help to create move-on plans. We have Empowerment Workers on site helping to prepare guests to move on. We’re using Language Line – which gives us access to interpreters for those whose first language is not English. We’re also really excited to be working with Hope into Action: Bristol to offer long-term accommodation.

The shelter relies on partnerships with churches around Bristol who volunteer, cook, donate and pray for the shelter.

Find them on Facebook & Instagram.

Bristol Churches will be running from 4th November 2024 – 29th March 2025

Would you like to get involved?

Once again churches will unite to provide food and support to some of the most vulnerable in the City. We have some slots filled by church teams already, which is great, but there are still many shifts to cover. You can volunteer for one of the 3 phases which are around 6 weeks long (maybe once a week or just a couple of shifts), and there are slots available over the 2-week Christmas period.

  • We need volunteers for lunch shifts (12-2pm).
  • We need volunteers for evening shifts (6:30pm – 10pm).
  • We need volunteers for the cleaning team (Mondays 9am – 11am)
  • We need cooks to make meals for the guests!

‘BCS is a wonderful collaboration between churches right across Bristol.’ (Volunteer quote)

 Please contact jane.jones@inhope.uk  for further information.

Get in Touch

If you or your church would like to be involved, please contact Jane at jane.jones@inhope.uk