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Several of our service users recently took part in trials at Tottenham Hotspur and Charlton Athletic for the Homeless World Cup, with 4 making it through to the final 50!
Further trials will now take place at Manchester United on April 3rd 2009. The final England squad will play in the championship to be held in Milan later this year.
Richard Barnard, Porchlight young person’s activity worker, who coaches and runs training sessions for the young hopefuls said, “All of them performed fantastically and gave a full 100%. Obviously things now get very serious. Every one of those 50 has a real chance of making into the final squad for Milan in August.”
“Our guys are rightfully very excited about the thought of training at Manchester United and the prospect of getting through to the next round. Getting involved in sport has given everyone a real boost in confidence and a positive attitude they can apply to every aspect of their life.”
The trials for the England squad are organised by Big Issue North in conjunction with a number of Premiership and Championship football clubs. For more information visit the Homeless World Cup website.
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Notes to the Editor:
1. The Homeless World cup trials in England are organised by Big Issue North in conjunction with a number of Premiership and Championship football clubs. For more information email hwc@bigissueinthenorth.com
2. The Homeless World Cup requires players to have been:
• Homeless or vulnerably accommodated at some point after the 1st December 2008
• Or are in rehabilitation and have been homeless at some point since 1st October 2008
• Or are asylum seekers currently without positive asylum status or who were ?previously asylum seekers but obtained residency status after 1st December 2007.
3. Porchlight is a Kent wide independent local charity that works to support single, vulnerable homeless people or those at risk of homelessness. It was established in 1974 as Canterbury Cyrenians and works throughout Kent.
4. Porchlight has accommodation based projects in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. The outreach team works with street homeless people as well as supporting former homeless people in their own homes, to prevent them returning to street life. Other services support people in their own homes who are at risk of becoming homeless.
5. In 2007-78 Porchlight helped over 1,400 vulnerable people. Porchlight projects include:
Kent Outreach: Our street outreach team work across Kent including working within prisons to help offenders who will be released from prison homeless.
Young Persons Services: This includes a direct access hostel, longer stay hostel and shared house, providing support for a number years, until each individual is ready to live independently.
Mental Health: We run a housing project in Dover specifically for people with enduring mental ill-health. We also provide support to 7 clients in another purpose built accommodation project in Margate. In addition we also have a young persons’ mental health service that enables young homeless people with mental health problems to better access the health services they need.
General Accommodation: We have hostels in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. They range in the levels of support provided from high support needs with staff available 24hrs a day, to medium support with staff available on a 9-5pm basis.
Floating Support: This is a preventative service that provides support to vulnerable people in their own home who are at risk of becoming homeless. Many of these clients have been through the hostel system and are almost ready to live independently but just need a little support every now and again.
Training and Service User Involvement: We have a team that works with people accessing any of our services and helps them develop their skills and education. We provide tailored training and encourage people to get involved in the running and improvement of their project, or volunteer on a more formal level in the organisation. Porchlight is committed to involving our service users throughout all the activities of the charity. They are actively encouraged to become involved in education, employment, volunteering and service user involvement opportunities.
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