An enormous pan of beans is gently heating on a large stove. Next to it, gravy is coming to simmering point while a giant cauldron of potatoes bubbles away on a third gas ring.
It’s Monday morning at the Matthew 25 Mission in Eastbourne and sausage, mash and onion gravy is on the menu for lunch – plus baked beans.
About 270 guests, as they are referred to, use the centre each month, some 30% of whom are homeless. People who are isolated, vulnerable and simply need someone to talk to or some company also come in.
There is no judgement and there are no questions, apart from asking a new guest their name.
Breakfast and lunch is served five days a week while the kitchen is also used by affiliated charity Absolute Angels to cook meals for the homeless and vulnerable.
The women volunteering in the kitchen, presiding over the bubbling pans, laugh and joke as they stir and chop. Bobbie Streek is a retired nurse who has cooked there for about four years, one day a week. “It can be challenging but we get lots of people come up and thank us,” she says.
Phyllis Nicholls, a retired upholsterer, has been volunteering for ten years. “There’s friendship, company and a lot of support here,” she says.
The kitchen is a narrow space at the back of Brodie Hall, a former Victorian flint schoolhouse next to Christ Church on Seaside. Outside, wooden tables, benches and planted areas give it the feel of a village tearoom.
The freshly-cooked food is just one part of the mission to help those left behind in society, who may suffer from addiction, loneliness, bereavement, unemployment and much more. Help is offered on many fronts such as housing, health appointments or just someone to listen.
The name Matthew 25 refers to the Bible chapter about helping strangers in need which states: ‘Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me’.
“It sounds like a complete cliché but I really did want to give something back – my biggest personal worry is whether we have enough Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge and is it cold enough”
Andrew walker, trustee
Manager Oscar Plumley explains there are four full-time paid staff plus a part-time bookkeeper.
He is paid to work 37.5 hours a week but does the admin required in his own time because he believes people donate to fund hands-on help, not paperwork. In reality, he works up to 60 hours a week.
He speaks with passion and positivity about the charity, noting that building relationships with guests to gain their confidence is a long, slow process but one which can pay off.
“We have one formerly homeless man now volunteering doing the gardening. We are a family and a lot of people here have been in that difficult position before, so they can really empathise with the guests,” he says.
Paid keyworker Maria Sharp is juggling a laptop and clipboard at a table near the door.
She started Absolute Angels a few years ago with three friends to feed homeless people after she had regularly chatted to the same young man on the street while shopping in Eastbourne at weekends. Maria became a paid keyworker at the mission two and a half years ago.
“We can get a lot of verbal abuse, but I love the job,” she says.
She is adamant about one key consideration: everybody has a story – don’t judge people by what they look like or what they are wearing.
“I have taught my three sons not to look at street drinkers as being trouble. You don’t know their story,” she says.
Maria is definite about how to help the homeless: never give them cash. Instead, buy them food or donate directly to a homeless charity.
Case study
Eddie (not his real name), in his late 40s, came to the mission for a while then disappeared for a few months, which was a concern. One day, he reappeared and Maria knew instinctively he didn’t look right.
He had been ‘cuckooed’, which is when drug dealers target a vulnerable person and take over their home to use as a base. Eddie had been kidnapped, injected with drugs and regularly taken to the bank and forced to hand over his benefits.
One day, he managed to hide in a crowd near the bank and ran to the Matthew 25 Mission.
Maria rang the police and Eddie was arrested for his own safety although he was in reality a victim of modern slavery.
It was over a long Bank Holiday weekend but she found a private car hire firm to take him to another town to be rehoused so he could not be found by the drug dealers, made sure he had clothes and texted him to check up.
He later messaged Maria to say: ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you. You saved my life’.
It is this, she says, which makes the challenging job so worthwhile.
There are thought to be 22 rough sleepers in Eastbourne currently, up from about 12 pre-Covid. During the pandemic, other local authorities which ran out of accommodation, sent people to Eastbourne to be housed.
Andrew Walker, a trustee, spearheads the fundraising, using more than 30 years’ experience in business. He still owns Cavendish Communications, a telecoms business in Newhaven, but has retired from the day-to-day running of the company.
“It sounds like a complete cliché but I really did want to give something back. I live in a nice house, drive a nice car and my biggest personal worry is whether we have enough Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge and is it cold enough,” he says.
When he met his son for dinner in Brighton and realised they were stepping around large numbers of homeless people in the street, he decided he wanted to do something to help.
So Andrew, who lives in Hellingly, started volunteering in Eastbourne at Matthew 25, initially raising £3,000 for a large truck, which is parked at the back of the hall to provide secure ambient food storage.
“Then I was sacked!” he exclaims. The trustees at the time questioned his motives for fundraising because he is not a Christian, an attitude which he clearly still finds incomprehensible.
However, two years later, after a shake-up, the current chairman St John Van Niftrik invited Andrew back as a trustee to help with fundraising. They both concede, laughingly, that they still have robust debates about theology.
St John, who is a lecturer training electricians, is originally from South Africa and has been in the Eastbourne area for 30 years. He says the majority of guests are men.
One of the biggest universal problems they face are mental health problems and a lack of self-confidence. “We always use people’s names – a lot have been stepped over in doorways and we try to give them their self-respect back,” he says.
While keen to highlight success stories, nobody who volunteers or works at Matthew 25 is under any illusions how tough it can be to help people from deeply troubled backgrounds. It can take years to encourage people to open up so they can be helped.
The team highlight the positive case of a 42-year-old who was a heroin addict for many years, who has recently got his first job since leaving school.
How much does it cost to run?
Trustee Andrew Walker explains that the charity spends about £185,000 a year and hopes to break even soon.
It receives some grant funding but also relies on businesses and individuals to donate.
The hardest part is budgeting when a lot of donations, which are very welcome, are one-offs. “It’s very hard to take on staff without a reliable income,” he notes.
The mission’s charity shop across the road (above) raises about £2,000 a month. Volunteer Carma Barros, busy tidying the racks of clothes, declares: “It’s lovely. I really enjoy meeting people, talking to them and helping them.”
Donations for the shop are always needed.
There are three tiers of donations businesses can make, ranging from a regular £25 a month to £75 a month. Companies are named on the supporters’ page and have photo opportunities with staff to use in marketing.
The aroma of a delicious lunch is intensifying as I finish my coffee and leave. People have come and gone, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, chatting or sitting peacefully on their own throughout the morning. They all, clearly, feel very much at home.
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Beautifully written!
Top ,.. top top … post! Keep the good work on !
Loved reading this, great reporting on all the humans involved in this wonderful family.
Oscar and team are absolute legends, was a pleasure to have crossed paths in my previous job. A prime example of the voluntary sector doing a brilliant job stepping in where state provision is crumbling after years of cuts. Fantastic read!