This year as part of our Sixth Form Community Service program, St Chris pupils are working with a fantastic charity called NOAH, and we need your help!

NOAH (New Opportunities and Horizons) is a Luton-based charity working across Bedfordshire offering hope and support to people struggling against homelessness and exclusion.

For 30 years NOAH has been working to provide support for people with complex needs who have nowhere else to turn. They work with people to find permanent and individually tailored pathways out of homelessness and destitution.

They also run a Welfare Centre, which helps the most disadvantaged in the local community, providing a practical, empowering and caring service to people who are homeless.

The Welfare Centre is open 365 days a year, and on average up to 100 people turn up with a variety of needs. It offers everything from a hot breakfast and a cup of tea to access to dental and GP appointments, clothing, counselling, English language classes, showers, a laundry and access to advice about housing and support.

As you can imagine, this year their services are needed even more than ever, so St Chris is delighted to be working with them.

What you can do to help?

The Centre urgently needs sleeping bags, and warm coats both – men’s and women’s.

Please when you’re up in the loft putting your summer clothes away, can you have a look and see if there are any coats or sleeping bags that you can spare.

It will really make a big difference.

You can either drop them at Reception in the Senior School, where they will be collected by Lower Sixth students Alicia and Soonu, or pupils can bring them to anyone in the Sixth Form Centre.

If an item needs freshening up that’s no problem – our Sixth Form pupils will be running donations through the school laundry machines (which are slightly larger then normal so good for sleeping bags etc!).

The deadline for dropping off donations is Friday 12 November. (Friday after half term.)

Thank you in advance for your support – We really do need as many people as possible to get involved.

Community Service Logo by Izzy Hobbs (Upper Sixth)