For 139 years the Whitechapel
Mission have been serving the homeless and marginalised–
through a day centre, skills training and career advice, activity programmes
and specialist support for complex needs. Open every day of the year, the
Mission make a positive and lasting difference to the 300+ homeless who ask for
their help and come through their doors on a daily basis.
The Mission could not do this
without support from volunteers. In 2014-15 QMSU Volunteers gave up 790 hours
of their time to help support the fantastic work of the Mission.
As part of the Clothing Challenge
volunteers sort, measure, size, and hang donated clothing, ready for
distribution for the local homeless. It sounds like a small task but it's one
that makes a huge improvement to the self-esteem, comfort and future prospects
of local homeless individuals.
As part of London Student Volunteering Fortnight 9
volunteers this time not just from Queen Mary, but from a whole range of other
London Universities including Kings, LSE, City and Imperial, came together to
volunteer at the Clothing Challenge at the Whitechapel Mission.
Winston Lo, a Geography student from
Queen Mary, tells us about the volunteering experience:
“In the midst of the fresh drizzle of
an autumn morning, were eagerly waiting in anticipation of the Clothing
Challenge at the Whitechapel Mission.
The early start did little to
discourage the enthusiasm, as the excitement of the volunteers was infectious.
This atmosphere was further heightened as the lovely staff at the Whitechapel
Mission gleefully welcomed us, introducing the wonderful facets of the charity
and their activities.
Soon after, we were acquainted with our
clothes stations, where we would be spending the succeeding hours sorting,
measuring, sizing and hanging donated clothing ready for distribution to the
local homeless. The clear instruction was to only process clothes we would be
“proud to be seen with our partner wearing”; to our amusement. The staggering
plethora of clothes led to the inception of a small fashion show amongst the
volunteers, parading the most daring and outrageous items of clothing,
resulting in hilarious photos.
Before we knew it, our time at the
Whitechapel Mission was ending. The feeling of disappointment of the conclusion
of our volunteering demonstrated the unanimous consensus of how marvellous our
morning was, working towards a truly worthy cause.
On behalf of all the volunteers I
express my deepest gratitude to the Whitechapel Mission for allowing us to
participate at the charity. We departed inspired, ardent to engage in more
volunteering in the future.”
Other volunteers who took part said “It
was a good opportunity to take hours out of a busy study schedule to give back
to the community” and “finding out that there are so many people who are
willing to help out the needy and disadvantaged inspired me to do my part in
making the community I live in a better place to live”.
