Helping members of the homeless community can be a mutually enriching experience, as volunteers and service users at a support centre in the North-East tell Anita Boniface.

ST Vincent’s Blackfriars in Newcastle is a hive of activity. It’s Tuesday lunch time, and the bright, spacious, beautifully decorated hall has been flowing with a steady stream of hungry service users ever since the clock struck eleven.

Tuesday lunchtime is Vinnies’ day. Around 100 men and women from around the local area have filed into the centre to receive a free hot meal, cake, hot drinks and friendship and there’s a lively hum of chatter and laughter to be heard throughout the building. People are directed to a table, where they are waited on by volunteers and receive a full table service.

This is a place where volunteers from all walks of life help out, enjoying hot food, banter and friendly conversation with service users who refer to themselves at times as “down and outs”. These are people who have often had, through no fault of their own, awful and sad experiences in their lives. Some of them may have been in prison for serious crimes. Many have ended up on the street, in a hostel or bedsit or sofa surfing, while others come to Blackfriars simply in need of friendship as well as the hot plate of food and a smile.

Here in this hall – the heart of the Blackfriars Centre, run by the charity, the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) – the heartbeat of friendship and mutual exchange finds a place every week.

As we eat together, I speak to a number of diners. Jane and Malcolm are married and live in a flat in Whitley Bay. They come to the centre for lunch every Tuesday because it gets them out of the house and gives them something to take their minds off family troubles. “I can share my problems here,” says Jane. “I have people I can talk to. The volunteers are always listening, and they are friendly and I know I can tell them what’s been going on”.

Lucy comes to Blackfriars for a “cuppa and hot meal”. She is homeless and is living between friends, sofa surfing. After being separated from her family and losing her home, she has spent time living in “bin shoots in a block of flats” where at least, she says, “there was privacy, and it was safe and warm”. She says that Vinnies is “welcoming, friendly and amazing – it does a lot for people.” After Lucy’s mother died, her mental health deteriorated and she lost her home. On the streets she was unable to access the healthcare she needed and feels she “fell off the map and was out of the game”.

Lucy tells me: “It’s really dangerous because you have more health issues coming to you because you’re in the cold, you’re not eating properly. Being a woman on the streets is dangerous, scary. I had no other option.” Thanks to the friendship and support at St Vincent’s Blackfriars Centre, Lucy now says: “I am getting there, though. Things are getting better. We are lucky to have Vinnies.”

Mark is a mental health service user, and it’s his first day at the centre as a volunteer. He’s being accompanied by his Community Link Worker and between them they are learning the ropes as Mark, a strapping 6ft 3ins, weaves his way through the tables and chairs to collect plates, serve food, and take orders.

Since Mark’s epilepsy diagnosis, he hasn’t worked. He says volunteering at Blackfriars is a way of helping more people. “When you have lived on the streets yourself it’s nice to know that when you’re volunteering and helping out you can help other people get back on their feet as well, instead of leaving them on the street.”

Charlotte is Mark’s Link Worker. She tells me: “For many of the people we help, isolation is a problem. People also struggle for food – you only get three vouchers a year from food banks in the area. If someone doesn’t have gas or electricity, they can’t cook, and Vinnies offers them a hot meal.”

Vinnies couldn’t run without the help of many hardworking and enthusiastic volunteers. Margaret is a Christian and heard about volunteering with the SVP through a friend at her church. She started to help out at Vinnies lunches every Tuesday and says: "When you see people in a very raw state, you realise a little bit of kindness and respect goes a long way. During winter, people are starving.”

Kevin is a corporate volunteer from Marks & Spencer. He and seven of his colleagues spent their annual charity day serving food to service users at Vinnies. “It’s a very good cause," he says. "We helped people on low incomes, people who are feeling low, people who are homeless – they all have somewhere to go and chat.”

Reflecting on his experience, he adds: “I felt really moved when I was there. People are so appreciative of what they get. It was overwhelming how grateful they were."

To anyone else considering volunteering at St Vincent’s Blackfriars, Kevin says: “Do it. Just for the experience alone, because it’s an amazing job and you get so much satisfaction from it.”

* If you’d like to find out more, call Emma Bell on 0191-261-6023 or email EmmaB@svp.org.uk.

* To learn more about the St Vincent de Paul Society and other support centres around the country, email info@svp.org.uk, call 02077-033030, or visit www.svp.org.uk.