From time to time at Matthew’s House, we go to events in the city and share about what we do. It can be networking with other organisations, it can be in job centres, community centres or local museums where members of the public and people needing the help of support services might come along. We love to get out to these events whenever we can. Sometimes the pressures of the project make that difficult but with the support of our volunteers, we have got better at doing it in recent months over the years!
We were set up at a local job centre recently, sharing ideas about wellbeing and positive living. We shared about the Matthew’s House project, Hope in Swansea, our community choir, volunteering and the power of community and purpose. We were also there to share about what we do in terms of support services. One of the team was deep in conversation with someone who needed support and another member of the team, who had just finished a similar conversation, looked up and saw a gentleman just waiting. They approached him and asked if everything was ok. He shared about the journey he had been on and then turned and said, “Before I leave, I just wanted to say, thank you. I want to thank all of you at Matthew’s House because when I was on the streets you were there for me. You supported me through one of the most difficult times of my life. Now, I am housed, and I’m looking for a job. I didn’t want to leave without saying thank you today.”
Moments like this are precious, no matter what our purpose was in being there that day. This was the moment which gave us the confidence that what we do really matters. People don’t always let us know if their lives have changed for the better, or how we have had an impact, we will see hundreds of people each week as we try our best to support the vulnerable in our city. It’s beautiful moments like this which remind us to keep working hard, keep supporting people in whatever ways we can, and just to be there as that reliable, consistent support service offering hope for those going through difficult moments in their lives.