Charlotte's Xmas Diary: Christmas Eve

I was a bit nervous walking to the shelter today because it was the first time I would get to meet the guests. When I arrived I signed in and found somebody in a yellow shirt. All the volunteers were given red shirts, the trustees had blue shirts and volunteers who were more experienced and who volunteer every year have yellow shirts and help to run the shelter. The yellow shirt lady told me that everything was in control at the moment and so I should just mingle with the guests and get to know some.

I sat down at a table with two guys in their late twenties. They were very polite to me but a little shy. One of them left after a while to use the computers and the other man started to talk to me a little more. He explained he had moved to England 2 years ago and after his first year his visa had expired and so now he was living on the streets. He was extremely intelligent and every time I saw him later in the day he always had his head stuck in a book.

Then it was time to serve lunch to the guests, I helped to serve the food, which was either a choice of cottage pie or vegetarian pasta bake. The guests loved the food and after we had tidied up the room the volunteers also got to eat. The food was cooked by professional chefs who also volunteer and it was so yummy =)

Next I worked on the coffee bar serving the guests hot drinks, this was very busy. It surprised me at how much they ate straight after lunch! Then I got to sit down and talk to a few more guests. this time the guests I met were not homeless but had come to the shelter because they live on their own and they do not want to be alone at Christmas. They were also very intelligent and one of them came from Algeria so he was helping me with my Arabic! I helped to set up a game of Monopoly for them and then I helped the volunteers to arrange a game of Bingo. The guests loved this and it was their chance to win things such as shower gel and chocolates.

I was sad to leave at 5 because I was having a lot of fun at the shelter and had met some really nice people. It was so nice to see all the things that the shelter was offering to the guests. As well as warmth and hot food, there were showers running all-day, access to the internet, books, a chiropodist, a dentist, a GP, the Samaritans, a barber. There were also people arriving throughout the day to entertain the guests, some children put on a pantomime, a man played the guitar and some girls played the violin and flute.