This morning Gillian Keegan MP went to St Pancras Church in Chichester to meet some of the estimated 80 people who sleep rough in the city. The church hosts a cooked breakfast every Monday morning organised by Tom Mawes and Canon Mark Payne. Each week they feed between 25-30 people a hot meal.
Tom's work extends beyond this, as he takes several members of the group to the gym. He explained this was based on his positive experience of using fitness as a positive coping mechanism. He also runs classes such as yoga, MMA, and Brazilian jujitsu. Tom has two stalls at the weekly car boot sale in the Chichester market where 2 people a week can run them, selling donations, and they keep the proceeds.
On her breakfast visit, Gillian brought Sarah Bennetts a Work Experience Coordinator at the Chichester District Council, as well as Linda Grange, Head of Housing and the Environment, and Cllr. Jane Kilby, Cabinet Member for Housing. All three went around the room to hear first hand of the realities of homelessness and rough sleeping in the area. All three said they will arrange to come again and have meetings at the Church, to build the relationships between the local government and group.
Gillian has already worked to better understand the issue of rough sleeping and homelessness and has been actively engaged both in the community and in Parliament. Earlier in the year, she took part in The Big Sleep Out, for the local charity Stonepillow, where she raised awareness of the issue locally as well as £500 for the charity. She also recently visited St Mungo's in Hackney, which is one of the UK's largest outreach service providers - each night offering a bed and support to more than 2,700 people across the South and South West. Gillian led the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on 'Homeless households' this afternoon.
