Update on the All night cafe – January 2021
I am sure we are all aware that the All-Night Café which was based in the Scout Hut along the A30 in Camberley had to close because they were evicted from the premises by the Council.
However, the Team who worked there have since acquired a new premises and run a food bank. Anyone encountering hardship can ring them up and a bag of food will be delivered to their homes, no questions asked, and without the need for vouchers. The Team have been very busy since lockdown and the hardships this has caused to individuals and families. The Team are always grateful for the generous donations from business, supermarkets and individuals. We donated all our unopened packs of tea, jars of coffee and CoffeeMate to the All Night Café foodbank as the expiry dates were short and we considered that our church would not be open to use our supplies.
A recent post on Facebook showed Karley, who has been a long-standing member of the All-Night Café Team, going from Camberley to Farnborough to Aldershot pulling a trolley behind her. This was full of pre-prepared hot food and drinks and was being given to those individuals who found themselves out on the streets, who would previously have had the warmth, safety and security of a decent cooked meal, shower and overnight sleep in the All Night Café. Karley said that she sits and has a chat with them and sometimes even a sing-song. They tell her if they need anything specific, like new socks, and she will make sure she takes them with her the next time she visits them. Karley is one of a Team, all brought together by the wonderful Christian lady, Carole Cole, who has visited us on several occasions and taken part in our worship.
The Team were sad to leave the premises on the A30 which left their guests without a place to sleep, however they are still doing a fantastic job in the local area by taking food and fellowship to those unfortunate enough to have nowhere to call home and an incredible number of food parcels to anyone struggling to make ends meet.
At the beginning of December 2020, everybody in the country was asked to stay at home as the number of Covid-19 cases was rising everywhere. Some people in our community had no home to go to, so the All Night Cafe started a fundraising campaign to place local homeless people in hotel rooms over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. The response was fantastic and thanks to everyone’s generosity, nearly all of the local ‘street homeless’ spent at least 10 days shielding from the cold weather in the warmth and safety of local hotel rooms, with plenty of food to eat!
Our church has supported this venture in the past and we were going to donate all our Christmas card money, Christmas Donations and Christmas Day service collection to them, however because of lockdown, this unfortunately will not amount to much.
Please continue to pray for the wonderful work of this dedicated team. This is faith and love in action.
Matthew 25:37- “Then the righteous will answer him ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothed you, sick or in prison and come to you?’, the King answered ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’”.