There are Haven Night Shelters spread throughout the Western Cape that cater to the needs of the homeless, and this is how you can support the cause.
Western Cape, South Africa (29 April 2022) – The Haven Night Shelter does countless good things for the homeless in the Western Cape. Time and time again, we share inspiring stories about the men and women who better their lives thanks to the help they get from the shelter.
Many of our readers wonder how the shelter operates, so we have written up about the things they do to help the homeless as well as what the public can do to aid the shelter.
The shelter employs full-time field workers that visit the homeless and offer them help. They explain how the shelter works and encourage them to get help there. The field workers also visit local businesses, properties and the City to work at reducing the amount of space the homeless can take shelter; this then drives them to the shelters.
The field worker’s role is to actively encourage and create opportunities for the Homeless person to get back to their loved ones and family. They do this by registering the homeless men and women to a database. Collect as much information as possible that could lead to reconnecting with family members and then working to reunite them. Once this is all done successfully, the person is removed from the homeless database.
Each shelter has social workers as well; this is to assist the homeless in working through anything they may need help with. They perform assessments and build a personal development plan.
The homeless become known as a client. They complete a registration form and get something to eat. The help begins from there, and they are charged no fees for up to 5 days.
Part of taking responsibility is that clients have to pay R15 per day for services if unemployed or R750 per month if income exceeds R1400.00 pm. Clients can earn their stay at a shelter by working in the shelter.
The public can also help by paying for beds for the homeless, volunteering, making donations or getting corporates to support.
“We started the “Buy a bed” campaign to make The Haven Shelters more accessible for people living on the streets. Most homeless people know that they have to pay shelter fees starting from R15 per night. These shelter fees are not a goal it self but more that homeless adults learn to take responsibility again. Sometimes homeless people use that as an excuse not to come to the shelter. With the “Buy a bed” campaign we encourage the community to cover their shelter fees for the first 5 nights and help us to be a sustainable organisation. The campaign is especially for a homeless person with no income. We have more than 2500 new clients per year. So your help is highly appreciated.”
You can access full details of their volunteer programme on how to donate here.
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