Harpenden women raise funds and awareness for Open Door (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Harpenden women raise funds and awareness for Open Door

11:46am Tuesday 30th March 2010 in Charity

Prompted by the growing need for global financial support to families and cities ravaged by natural disasters, some Harpenden women decided it was an appropriate time to also remember our local folk experiencing their own disasters.

With over 30 different users per month and around 7,000 people assisted with resettlement in the St Albans region since its opening in 1993, the Open Door Emergency Night Shelter and Daytime Drop-in Service provides a safe bed, hot meal and a comprehensive resettlement program which includes access to the Specialist Nurse for Homeless People and a counselling service for those in need. Operated by Hightown Praetorian & Churches Housing Association with the help of volunteers and support from the Local Authority and other local organisations, Open Door also relies heavily on the generosity and kindness of individuals in our community.

The two Harpenden friends, Bernadette and Juliet, both with children at Wood End Primary School, recently discovered it’s the 17-25 year olds most affected by the trauma of homelessness – often associated with illness, job-loss, emotional trauma, and lack of family support.

“Our children are lucky: we will always be here to offer them support and guidance, but what about those less fortunate? Where can they actually go? Often these young people are frightened, confused, unwell and need help,” said Bernadette after a recent visit to the shelter to meet the Volunteers’ Coordinator Valerie Wills.

After discussions at the shelter, the women decided to host a fundraising day at Juliet’s home on Friday 19th March 2010, to help raise awareness and extra funds for Open Door. With a bit of creativity, the Harpenden women and their friends were able to host an interesting day that proved to raise more funds than a simple morning tea.

The early morning saw a busy group of women preparing and selling over 60 bacon butties, teas and coffees to attendees and to the local builders carrying out works on homes along the street. Friends arrived early heavily laden with delicious homemade cakes and cookies for the cake-stall, and local business people dropped by to give last minute gift vouchers as prizes for the raffle, totalling 16 prizes in all. At 10.30am the program of talks & demonstrations commenced with friends imparting advice on topics such as flower arrangement, gardening, and even ‘how to create an authentic Indian Curry from scratch’. The outcomes of these demonstrations, (which included vased flowers, planter pots and over 40 Indian Curry dinners for two!) were either sold or raffled for the charity, and people attending the talks took delight in gleaning knowledge on a new topic of interest.

“It’s the high quality and the quantity of raffle prizes, along with the level of professionalism of the talks and demonstrations that has made today a great success – that, and of course the generosity of all our friends”, said Juliet as she thanked another friend who had spent the day carrying out manicures for the guests, with proceeds going to the Open Door charity.

The various local businesses donated a range of voucher prizes from massages, beauty therapy, gift packs, dinners for two, personal training sessions to flowers, a mirror and two complimentary haircuts. Two local artists also generously donated beautiful paintings for the raffle, so attendees had the chance to win original artworks from simply buying 3 raffle tickets for 5 pounds.

Open Door Chair of Trustees, Mrs Margaret Lewis attended the day and commented on the outstanding generosity and kindness of the women hosting and organising the day, and was delighted to see the friendly people of Harpenden giving so much for such a worthy cause.