YMCA Chaplains Adapt and Innovate to Meet Local Needs

Here is an extract from their latest newsletter:

The chaplaincy sessions have been well-attended (nearly 600 attendances in the past 3 months!) and a really good way for residents to socialize safely in a time when it is easy to feel disconnected and alone. There have also been additional sessions at our lower support housing projects (usually tea, snacks and a chat) and it has been really good to be able to offer these. We have had lovely feedback from residents (“Wednesday, chaplaincy day, is my favourite day of the week” ) and staff (“it’s nice to see a different face”)  as well as external agencies such as social workers (“I think chaplaincy has really made a difference at the Foyer “).

Unfortunately, the latest lockdown has meant that we can no longer do shared meals and group activities have been put on hold at the projects in order to minimise the risk of Covid-transmission. We are exploring online chaplaincy sessions and we have also started having 1-1 walks with residents. Please keep our residents and staff in your prayers at this challenging time – we are so very grateful not to have had any significant Covid outbreaks at our projects, but the restrictions take a toll.

Find out more and how your church can support them here

Chaplaincy volunteering is temporarily on hold but if you are interested in finding out more about this for the (hopefully!) near future please contact one our chaplains:

West Sussex – Samantha Burton  : Work mobile: 07557855779 | Email: samantha.burton@ymcadlg.org

Brighton and Hove – Lucy McGrath: Work mobile: 07741240452 | Email: lucy.mcgrath@ymcadlg.org

East Sussex – Elly McKay-Smith – Work mobile: 07884 549308 | Email: elly.mckay-smith@ymcadlg.org

Leave a Comment