This was our second visit to see Slough Outreach and Nishkam SWAT on their Monday night feed the homeless service.

The team at Slough Outreach alongside their partners do an amazing job every day of serving our community. Each day they are in a different location in the Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead area providing food, clothes and advocacy advice to those who are homeless, vulnerable and displaced.

They have one very simple aim

To End Homlessness’

We last helped Slough Outreach in June and we were overwhelmed at the services Shin and his team provide so I knew tonight’s task would be a very popular one. Not all of us (17 in total) could help with the drinks station so we split off into teams. Some of us stayed with the Outreach project and the rest of us went to litter pick our town centre.

It could happen to anyone

Without a strong system of support around a person, one incident can spark a chain of events that lead to homelessness. Triggers include:

• Marriage or relationship break-up
• Addiction to/dependence on alcohol, prescription or illegal drugs, or gambling
• Job loss, which leads to repossession or inability to pay rent
• Mental illness
• Physical illness
• Escaping an abusive relationship
• Getting into debt
• Death of a loved one
• Leaving institutions (such as army or prison)

As the clocks change and we are all expecting a drop in temperatures, spare a thought for those who are still outside. As a town we are lucky to have the services of Slough Outreach, Nishkam SWAT, Langar Aid helping our community. And in our own small way this evening, we helped their cause and met some truly inspirational people.

Slough Outreach

If you take the time to follow Shin and the Outreach project on social media you will not only be in awe of the work he does but also wonder how selfless one person can be to dedicate so much of his time to help others.

A project is never about just one person (we all know there is no I in team), but one person’s vision and dedication can be infectious that many many people wish to align their values to reach the same conclusion – to End Homelessness.

To find out more about our amazing task owner, have a look at this link and please follow them on Instagram, facebook and twitter – each day you will be in awe of everything they do!

http://sloughoutreach.org/

Nishkam SWAT

Nishkam SWAT endeavours to transform lives through values and virtues. They are involved in many community projects, such as:

• Homeless Project – to serve the displaced and vulnerable
• Nishkam Healthcare – to support those in need of medical and psychosocial help
• Project Recovery – to provide support and guidance to anyone who is suffering or impacted by alcohol or substance addiction
• Elderly Care Project – to support the elderly

As a fellow Sikh it actually makes me very proud of the way Nishkam SWAT do sewa (serving the community). They are a fellow red army with core values so strong that you can’t help but be blown away by what they do.

https://swatlondon.com/who-we-are.html

Creep it Real

As its nearly Halloween, there is little chance of the Goodgym runners not taking part in some kind of ghastly activities and although I’m a pun king, I’ve crept the report real tonight! But not the photos!

No…the photos air on the side of creepy yet boo-tiful, even a bit of eye-candy if you like that sort of thing! But if you don’t boo-lieve me…take a look…don’t we just look fang-tastic!

Thank you to Ruth, Jenni and Emily for being our walk leaders today and to the jammy Jeffers – Sara and Pam for leading the walk/run group…

Next week we are at Wexham Park Hospital for a litter pick task of their grounds.