We’re often asked whether we will be upping the ante with the provision of some hot food at Christmas time and many people are surprised to hear that this is something we don’t do. This may seem confusing as we have delivered a weekly soup run in Leeds for well over a decade now, but for us it has never been about ‘feeding people’. Our soup is symbolic and deliberately simplistic, it’s a purposeful tool used to engage with the people who need our long term support on an unconditional basis. As an organisation we have a clear mission, a mission that ensures we’re in it for the long haul. Here, one of our support workers explains a little more;
‘I think it is fair to say that most people probably don’t think about homelessness consistently throughout the year. I think it’s a fair statement to make because I know that there are many significant issues affecting the lives of people all across the world. When it comes to the issue of homelessness, you may be someone who regularly walks past someone begging on the way to work, or you may see somebody bedded down in a doorway when walking through town late on the weekend. Perhaps you know someone personally that went through a time of homelessness or perhaps it’s an issue you follow closely in the media. For those who don’t tend to hear about the issue, for whatever reason, Christmas is understandably the time when their minds will possibly be turned to the subject. Perhaps the issue could be deemed to have seasonal significance simply because the weather gets colder at Christmas, however, I think it’s much more likely that people become increasingly conscientious of those with very little during a time when most of society is indulging themselves and celebrating. Realising there are people who simply aren’t in any position to celebrate or even just gather together with loved ones appears that much more tragic when everyone seems to be doing it.
It’s fantastic that increased public awareness results in heightened support for the homeless during the Christmas period. It’s heartwarming to hear of the people who go out of their way to offer support in the ways they can. It’s great that vulnerable individuals can easily get their immediate needs met with the increased offers of food and clothing.
The harsh but sad truth is though, that homelessness remains a struggle throughout the year and there is something that we feel is of higher value in the long run which we aim to give out and would like to see given out as much as possible by our society; emotional support. The thing is we don’t just want to give our service users emotional support, but we want its value and potential to be ever increasingly recognised by those same people.
Sometimes, the more soup we give out, the more difficult it is to get this message across, simply because the focus shifts to the soup and away from the conversations and relationships.
Soup kitchens at Christmas time are a really good thing depending on what you are aiming to achieve, because once the soup has gone, the problem of homelessness remains and at Simon on the Streets we want to put as much energy in to pursuing the root and breaking the cycle that keeps people homeless. Therefore we use soup when it assists in building real relationships with people and we don’t use it beyond that.’