Day 1/8 - 22Dec - Setting up The Gate
The Gate opens tomorrow for service, more on that in a later post, but today a group of volunteers have about five hours to unload the trucks, open the boxes and prepare the building to be ready to offer a place off the streets over Christmas. The Gate opens each year in a new site to keep its location secret, ensure the neighbours barely know we have arrived until we leabe and to make use of whatever building is available for us to takeover. For the past few years Crisis At Christmas have been offered London academy sites around London that come with all mod cons, hot water, working toilets, industrial-grade kitchens and gyms that make for great sleeping areas. In years past this was not the case and a loan building could be close to demolition or neglected, since then Crisis At Christmas has built a good reputation with landlords thanks to handing back their sites in great condition, at least as good as today's handover to us just a lot cleaner. We have boxed up and st...