Saturday, 04 February 2012
Green Pastures
It's nearly the end of this year's Poverty & Homelessness Action Week and I had intended to write a related blog post to publish at the start. Oh well, better late than never!
I would like to tell you about Green Pastures: a Christian social enterprise that provides homes for the homeless. Since discovering them on Twitter last year, I have been keeping a close eye on what they're up to, and their passion and commitment to seeking an end to homelessness is inspiring. In 1997 they began by providing temporary accommodation in their church building and two years later they purchased two flats to house homeless people in their area. Their work has grown and spread so that now, through partnering with 29 churches across the country, they house and support 400 people who were previously homeless!
They are aiming to house 1,000 homeless people by 2015, and their big dream is for every church in the UK to have one house to house the homeless. Wouldn't that be fantastic?
To achieve these goals, Green Pastures are going to need help. They need more churches to contact them about working together to house the homeless, particularly in the South West where there appears to be only one partner. They also need people willing to invest - they offer loan stocks with an interest rate of 5% per annum, for a minimum investment of £1,000. They estimate that, on average, £10,000 of investment houses 1 person indefinitely. What a great alternative to leaving your savings with the bank!
I think what Green Pastures is doing is amazing. Let's help them reach their goal of housing 1,000 homeless people by 2015!
