Welcome to the Newbury Soup Kitchen....

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"I'd like to say I am very grateful to you all. You really do make a massive difference difference to those that you help. I have been one of them many times especially during lockdown and really am so grateful. It's not just the food, it's the kindness, being treated and spoken to like a human being, helping people get dental treatment, haircuts and people get to chat and catch up with each other, anything you can help with you will. What you all do is genuinely life saving. Thank you ”

Soup Kitchen Client

Press Release - 3rd October 2024

HOMELESS CHARITY BECOMING HOMELESS  

Due to unforeseen circumstances Newbury Soup Kitchen has been given notice to leave our Operational Unit in Newbury from mid-March 2025.

We are in desperate need of new accommodation to house our Commercial kitchen, food storage, offices and parking for our two vehicles.

This is the opportunity to find a space to move all our services under one roof to the centre of the town. We are reaching out to our local community for help to us find a suitable location and to help with fundraising for increased rental costs when they come.

Founder and CEO, Meryl Praill said: “This is the beginning of a new chapter for Newbury Soup Kitchen, we look forward to the future and expanding our charity to enable us to provide all our services in one place.”

We would like to wholeheartedly thank SWIFT Logistics for the kindness and support we have received to date, with this we have been able to grow and provided the bespoke services, help, food and support for people in our community experiencing homelessness and who are vulnerably housed.

Please contact Meryl Praill CEO and Founder

meryl@newburysoupkitchen.org.uk

“ It’s ironic that a charity that helps the homeless is potentially becoming homeless itself and we at Greenham Trust are doing all we can to help identify a new building for them to occupy. If any building owners have a building that might be suitable then please let us or Newbury  Soup Kitchen know.”  Chris Boulton CEO Greenham Trust

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/homeless-charity-becoming-homeless


Who are the Soup Dragons

Soup Dragons

Who are our awesome Soup Dragons? See the companies who are signed up monthly donors. Directly helping the most vunerable in our community.
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Soup Dragaons

Sponsors & Supporters

Thank You !

We would like to thank each and every sponsor and supporter who has helped with food donations, storage facilities, items and more....

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Thank You

Contact Us

Contact Us

Call us:
Outreach 07751 526859 & 07936 896139
Operational 07719 183439
Meryl our CEO & Founder 07583637588
Contact Us
Contact Us

News

Homelessness and the early release of prisoners

5th November 2024

What is happening?

Due to the overcrowding in Prisons, an Early Release Scheme has been set up in the UK.  

The Government thought that this would help reduce the pressure on prisons and be a starting step of sorting out the Criminal Justice Systems overcrowding. The increase in sentence length is the main cause of overcrowding. The Crown Court (2023) stated the average sentence is 25% longer than in 2012.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice said the early release system would give probation staff more time to prepare for prisoner’s release and set them up with housing and help. This has not been the case, as former inmates are now seen rough sleeping, and re-offending to get back into the prison.

Read More »

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Who Are We & What Do We Do ?

Meryl – Founder & CEO with a client
Our new catering van that provides a mobile service Wednesdays & Saturdays
client
Where Someone Cares
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Our arms and doors are open to all.

We provide a comprehensive hot meal provision, a friendly face and welcome opportunity to sit chat, offload and feel safe. A warm welcome awaits anyone wishing to socialise, find support, enjoy a fresh cooked hot meal and interact with likeminded people.

THURSDAY sessions at the Salvation Army also offer haircuts, Samaritans, drug and alcohol outreach, Community Nurse, fuel debt outreach. This is to compliment the other basic provisions and amenities such as shower and laundry tokens, Foodbank referral, toiletries, emergency food/kettle hot water packs, tents, sleeping bags warm clothes to name a few. If a person comes to us with a problem, if we cannot help, we will find someone who can. We rent the Salvation Army Hall Newbury Soup Kitchen is independent of the Salvation Army.

TUESDAYS: We provide individual outreach services where our clients can access Optometry services free of charge. Oue wonderful Community Nurse comes 2-4pm on a Tuesday to support homeless, vulnerable clients who may not find it easy to engage with traditional medical routes. This bespoke support highlights serious health issues and illnesses that may have gone undiagnosed.

These services are essential to start the journey of engagement, building trust with our clients and making a difference to people who perhaps no hope in life. Newbury Soup Kitchen works hard to give back HOPE.

WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAYS: We have a wonderful food truck that is loaded with all the provision required to support people who are rough sleeping, sofa surfing and vulnerably housed. The service is held from The Wharf 6-7pm on Wednesdays and 5-6pm on Saturdays. A hot meal and takeaway parcel are available for all. The food like a Thursday is cooked fresh by qualified volunteers from fresh donated food from local supermarkets.

We are busy every day outside our food sessions. We have a wonderful network of volunteers who provide support with housing, benefits applications, fuel debt support and day to day issues that arise.

Hair – a typical haircut on a Thursday evening
Working behind the scenes
Outreach services such as Covid Jabs

Support from our local community is Key and we are proud that Will Young (Singer & Actor) is our Patron.

Will says “I’m so thrilled and honoured to become a patron of Newbury Soup Kitchen. Having lived near Newbury my entire life to be able to be part of an incredible organisation and bring support to the local homeless people fills me with deep humility”

Whilst we are fortunate enough to have use of the Salvation Army facilities on a Thursday evening (Wednesday & Saturdays are mobile with a slightly reduced menu – operating out of our catering van at the Wharf)

we are keen to expand our offering – but this requires dedicated premises. We are actively searching for premises in the Newbury area and our fundraising efforts assist in supporting this effort. Our vision is to provide a community centre where our clients can be assisted in a safe environment 365 days a year.   

Will Young – our Patron with Meryl (CEO & Founder) & 3 of our clients

National Rough Sleeper Crisis

Tent 8

The Impact of Trauma on Mental Health, Addiction, and Homelessness

Trauma can have a profound impact on a person’s life. It plays a significant and often overlooked role in the intersection of mental health, addiction, and homelessness. For many individuals, deep-seated emotional wounds become the catalyst for a devastating cycle of mental health disorders, substance abuse, and ultimately, homelessness. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently arise from unresolved trauma, leading many to seek relief through substance use. This self-medication, however, often exacerbates the issues, spiralling into full-blown addiction and further diminishing overall well-being ….Read More

Do we know many people are homeless in West Berkshire and the UK?

The scale of homelessness Nationally is extremely difficult to count and establish. Homelessness comes in many forms which many do not realise. Rough sleepers are the visible homeless but there are people trapped and living a life of homelessness away from the community eye in temporary accommodation, hostels, people’s sofas or floors and night shelters.

Hidden homelessness, known as sofa surfing, is incredibly difficult to count and impossible to quantify as people stay with friends or relatives out of sight and often do not consider themselves to be homeless and do not contact local authorities or charities………..

Click here for the full story

Rough sleeping rises by 27% as the homelessness crisis deepens across England

The annual rough sleeping snapshot provides the government’s estimate for how many people were rough sleeping on a given night in Autumn 2023. It shows:

  • 3,898 people were sleeping rough across England, an increase of 27% on the previous year. This is the second year in a row that the government has reported an increase in rough sleeping and the sharpest rise over a 12-month period since 2015. These figures further confirm that the Westminster government will fail to meet its commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024.
  • The number of people sleeping rough is now 61% higher than it was ten years ago and 120% higher than when data collection began in 2010.

“People sleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/in or standing next to their bedding) or actually bedded down in the open air (such as, on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments). People in buildings or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or ‘bushes’).

The definition does not include people in hostels or shelters, sofa surfers, people in campsites or other sites used for recreational purposes or organised protests, squatters, or Travellers sites.

Click here fo more info from Crisis

Dual Diagnosis

What is the link between mental health and substance misuse?

When a person has both a substance abuse addiction and a mental health issue such as bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety, it is called a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder. Dealing with substance abuse, alcoholism, or drug addiction is incredibly difficult and known for destroying relationships, jobs and mental health…….. Read More