News article
Crisis at Christmas 2011
3 January 2012 | Topics: none
The 40th Crisis at Christmas welcomed 3,200 homeless people through the doors of its day and residential centres, while an army of 8,000 volunteers offered guests hot food, entertainment, companionship and a wide range of services including vital medical assistance, general wellbeing and housing and job advice.
21,000 meals were served, 261 guests received eye tests and 383 dental consultations took place during the week the nine centres were open across the Capital.
Throughout the seven days efforts were made to link guests into education, training and employment services held at Skylight Centres - Crisis' year round support network. 50 members including Skylight Ambassadors were involved in this important work.
There were 7% more guests than last year while the average age was 43 and in total 98 different nationalities were represented.
591 guests stayed at our residential centres each night - no one who needed a bed was turned away, while more than 36 guests were also linked in with night shelters, B&B's and reconnection teams - meaning they did not have to return to the streets after Christmas.
Approximately 673 guests sought support from our advice team for 985 different needs.
Leslie Morphy, Crisis' chief executive, said: "In its 40th year Crisis at Christmas welcomed more guests than ever and we would like to thank every single volunteer for giving up their time and making the event possible.
"Although more services were delivered successfully than ever before, Crisis remains angry that four decades later these are still needed and we should stress that the increase in guests is not to be celebrated.
"We hope all our Christmas guests have a more positive New Year and we are excited to be welcoming some of them at our Skylight Centres."
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