Have you heard of the local charity “The Meeting Room”? It’s an organisation that runs daytime drop-in centres for homeless, socially isolated and vulnerable people living within our local community. Epsom Rotary Club is proud to support the Meeting Room.
Did you know that every year around Christmas the Ashley Centre security staff on behalf of Epsom Rotary Club put a large collection box in the centre for donations of food items. We then collect and deliver the donated items to The Meeting Room.
In this extraordinary year Epsom Rotary Club members have also donated wrapped Christmas presents for The Meeting Room to distribute to individuals and families that they support. It is also worth mentioning that many others have also generously made donations.
The drop-in centres provide a warm, safe and friendly environment where people are made to feel welcome and can eat, relax and socialise. A hot nourishing mid-day meal sustains the body, while talking, playing games and other activities help to break through isolation.
Important as the Daily Centres are, The Meeting Room also offers other vital support including:
· Accompanying clients to appointments where they need someone to speak up for them. This may be an assessment, medical appointment, social workers or legal meetings.
· Assistance to prevent homelessness, such as helping negotiate debt, helping with maintaining their property and negotiating with housing associations where there has been a problem.
· Help with paperwork or online forms. Many clients are not fully literate or unable to use computers, so we help them complete necessary paperwork.
· Running regular self improvement courses. We have courses scheduled to cover the following: Mindfulness; Building Confidence and Self Esteem; Managing Finances; Managing Stress and Anxiety.
To find out more about the work of The Meeting follow this link: https://www.themeetingroom.biz/. More about Epsom Rotary Club can be found at: EPSOM Rotary
