Jonny and the Night shelter

In today's post I'm really excited to introduce you to our very dear friend Jonny. But first, I want to tell you a little story.

Last week Matt and I were walking home from an event, it was around 11pm and a half hour walk. On our way back we were approached by a man asking for some change. We politely apologised saying we don't have any and trying to dissuade him from following us. He asked again so we stopped, he was clearly pretty out of it, he looked a mess and said he had just run away from the police. As per (shamefully) usual, at the back of our minds we were thinking its probably all lies, he might be planning to rob us etc. Then his friend came onto the street, he was pretty aggressive towards the guy we were speaking to. At this point we were feeling a little uncomfortable but didn't feel we could leave these two alone without something bad happening. 
Throughout this man's story he had been saying 'I don't even have shoes, there are some over there but they're not even mine'. After a little thought Matt offered him his shoes, the guy was quite shocked, 'What, no I can't take your shoes!'. Matt was being genuine, there were no strings attached, and no he didn't want to be paid back in weed tomorrow. We left Matt's shoes in front of this guy and walked the rest of the way in socks. 
Later we were reflecting, and Matt said he just thought 'what would Jonny do'. And its true, Jonny would give his shoes away every time. 

Over to Jonny!



Hello readers of Dear Friend, let me introduce myself. My name is Jonny, I was bought up in Alconbury and until 2 years ago I designed racing cars for F1. However, 2 years ago I became a Christian and since then my world has been turned upside down. I left my job and moved to Newham, London last September to do a year with XLP. Each Monday I’d travel to and from Liverpool Street and I immediately became aware of what a huge problem homelessness still is. I was chatting to a friend of mine about this and she told me how 7 churches in Tower Hamlets were stepping up and coming together to provide practical support to the homeless people in their community. I knew I wanted to be a part of it straight away and the following Sunday spent my first night volunteering in the Tower Hamlets night shelter.

As soon as I walked into the building on that cold November night I was immediately struck by just how normal everybody was. I met a group of people who were just like you and me. For some it was a missed pay cheque or frozen benefit claim that had led them to the streets. Others had suffered a family breakdown or were fleeing conflict. But each and every one of the individuals I got to know desperately wanted to get themselves back on their own two feet and out of the situation they found themselves in. 

Volunteering soon became highlight of my week and I’d excitedly hurry back to church and tell them about the transformation I could see in peoples lives. At the start of this year I got chatting to people from my church about what our response as the church should be to the increasing levels of poverty and homelessness in my home borough - over the past year, the number of rough sleepers in Newham has gone up by a shocking 57%. It turned out that many other people in Newham had a heart to see change and at the start of March a group of us met in a local park to talk about potentially setting up a winter night shelter in Newham. Completely unbeknown to us at the time, Paul Riley (the ‘Night Shelter Coordinator’ from Housing Justice) was sat on the neighbouring table eating fish and chips with his mother! On overhearing our conversations he came and introduced himself to us and over the course of the next few hours a new Newham night shelter, called NEWway, was hatched. 

From the first week of November 2013 until the final week of January 2014, churches across Newham will open their doors for one evening per week and provide 15 homeless guests with a hot meal and a safe, warm place to sleep. Each guest will also receive 1-2-1 advocacy support to help them secure longer term accommodation so they don't have to return to the streets when the night shelter closes. Our vision is to help local churches work together to tackle the rising levels of poverty and homelessness in Newham. We believe that this new night shelter will have a long-lasting, positive impact upon the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our community. 

How can I get involved?
There are lots of ways you can help! To make this vision a reality, we need local people to volunteer and donate resources (particularly bedding, clothing and toiletries). If you are able to volunteer (even if they’re only able to help every once in a while), please come along to one of our free training sessions in Newham on the 15th or 26th of October. Any financial donations towards equipment and running costs would also be gratefully received. You can even 'like' our facebook page! If you would like to take me up on any of these offers, or have any questions about getting involved in a night shelter near you please email me at jonny@newwayproject.org or give me a call on 07772 604 222.

Thank you so much for having me Dear Friend readers.


What an inspiring story and how exciting that people are stepping out to try and change the areas they live in. Inspiring stuff. Lets get involved in our communities and cities!