Day 2/8 - 23Dec - Open for guests

After Sunday's setup we have opened the doors today as one of Crisis At Christmas 24 hour residential centres  supported by a three-shift volunteer system providing full services.

I would normally say that we expect the first day to be quiet, but all of the beds you see here are now taken and likely in use for the week!

We have the capibility to expand our sleeping (and catering) capacity and I'll let you know what happens when the shops close for the seasonal break and more guests usually arrive.

Whilst Crisis At Christmas has several London temporary residential centres, much bigger than ours, The Gate is special because we only take in guests with significant alcohol, drug or other addictions.

Experience has shown that this subset of London's homeless will not come indoors unless we cater for them differently, if that wasn't the case they'd stay outdoors and it would be impossible to do practical or effective outreach with them. The Gate takes referrals from all the other day and residentai Crisis At Christmas centres that are not equipped or experienced to welcome this category of guest.

The Gate is the only centre that allows guests to bring and consume alcohol into the site, we decant any of their glass bottles into plastic, but we do not allow apparent drug use. Experience has shown that our guests will usually pace themselves through the day and night and relax far more than if they are at a "dry" shelter where they have to binge outside the fences before coming back indoors.

Counter-intuitively The Gate can be a calmer and more relaxed residential centre because we take a more pragmatic and specialised approach. Our "Green Badge" leader has been volunteering for 26 years and sets the tone, style and atmosphere of The Gate and her volunteer team.

We start the week off with a simple menu as our guests will not be ready to stomach much, but as the week goes on the menu will change to reflect improving appetites and resilience to eating well again.

At this point guests can be more willing and relaxed to attend one of our nightly Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous sessions. Gambling is another addiction we cater for but I don't yet know enough to write about it.

We offer two hot dishes, one meat or fish, the other vegetarian followed by a classic dessert. 

Our guests are more vulnerable to infections and the consequences of them, so we pride ourselves on the quality and hygiene of our kitchen service that I think betters what the rest of us are used to or accept on the high street. See this link

You can see from the photos of our kitchen the effort that is put into cleaning it before and after a shift delivers a meal.

All of us working in the kitchen have to hold current food hygiene certifcates that last for three years before the need to sit a refresher exam.

These certificates ensure we are working to best food hygiene practice in the UK, comply to current regulations and ensures a consistency of knowledge amongst all kitchen team members.

I'm not allowed to photograph guests or some of the volunteers so this Mary Celeste view of The Gate is not typical and I only grab these at rare quiet moments.

The industrial ovens, freezers and fridges are a joy to use, and the stainless steel worktops used for food prepararation.

Today we had four of us prepping trays of vegetables and cheese whilst the gammon is being cooked in the oven zone.

We serve the guests first with generous portions, and subsequently we feed the volunteers with simpler and smaller portions.

Our food supply varies year on year linked to the donations we receive from the public and supermarkets.

Each day chef reviews and reconciles guest numbers with the contents of our larder to plan the meals for the folowing day. Three shifts means we have three chefs who handover to each other and discuss how best to use the fresh food in the chillers and larder.

There is a single communal dining area for guests and volunteers and we get a good chance to strike up a conversation with whoever is in The Gate tonight.

My 2019 Justgiving fundraiser: link

Last year's Gate Diary 2018 - link

Regards, Paul
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NB: These diary entries are written as a thank-you to everyone who has donated to Crisis At Christmas, would still like to, or just curious to know what happens behind the scenes.

I write this diary to let you know how we spend your money and to encourage you to keep supporting Crisis At Christmas as it depends upon your donations or volunteering to fund the huge Christmas operation and subsequent year round services 

 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/llct2019