Santa's little helpers

Joanne Morton

“I began volunteering for Crisis four years ago, and I’ve worked the last four Christmases. I started because I used to work near the Strand and would always see so many homeless people there. I decided to do something different for Christmas rather than sit at home watching The Wizard of Oz and eating chocolates.

The women’s shelter is one of the smallest: we normally have about 50 people at any time. Most people sleep at the shelter, either for just a night or for the whole Christmas period. It’s open from 23 to 30 December and can be in different buildings each year – in the past, we’ve set up shelters in disused homes for older people and once we used a disused car showroom in Camberwell.

The day starts at about 7.45am when volunteers are briefed and jobs allocated. People might work in the kitchen or bring people to the shelter in a minibus. The shelters are decorated and have TVs, videos and sofas so guests can be at their ease – it’s time for them to relax. We provide three meals a day including a traditional Christmas dinner on the big day. A volunteer who has a restaurant herself organises this so it’s better than my home-cooked dinner would be.

We give out presents donated by local businesses and put on entertainment – bands, carol singing or salsa. There’s bingo and art sessions, and we get hairdressers, chiropodists and massage therapists to come along, too, which can really boost people.

The plight of some guests will always really get to you. But often a person who’s really depressed seems better after a few days and is more receptive to getting practical help – for instance, with benefits and housing advice, which we also offer.

It’s an incredible experience and you meet so many people you wouldn’t normally meet. I’m always pleased to see people who return for a second or third year – it doesn’t have to mean their housing situation is deteriorating, they might just be a bit isolated. You’re giving something to people who normally don’t even get given respect.

It’s an incredible experience and you meet so many people you wouldn’t normally get to know 

Joanne Morton

I don’t think of this as missing out on Christmas at all, I think it makes it. For me, Christmas is not about presents and shopping, it’s about Crisis.”

Sara Nott

“I’ll be on call this Christmas for a week for from 23 to 30 December for any maintenance or housing management issues. It will be the first time I’ll have had to do that over Christmas, but hopefully I won’t be called out – I have a lot of faith in our contractors.

I’ve been with Carrick housing for 18 years and we all take turns to be on call at evenings and weekends. It does put you on edge because you’ve got the phone with you all the time, so you can’t be as relaxed as normal. Although by the time the kids have opened their presents, got over the excitement of Christmas and started bickering, I’ll probably be glad to get called out a few times!

The first port of call for emergencies over Christmas is our call centre and all our contractors are on standby for this. But I’ll be contacted if there’s something the contractor needs to clarify or if the call centre doesn’t know what to do.

For example, a plumber who had been asked to fix a toilet could call to get the work rubber-stamped so they’d know they’d get paid. Or you could be asked to help an elderly person whose flat was being flooded.

An elderly lady started crying when we got her a sparkly necklace – she said it was all she’d ever wanted

Joy Atkinson

One Christmas, a tenant’s family suspected he’d committed suicide so a colleague had to help break into his flat. Thankfully, nothing awful had happened.

I’ll still spend Christmas Day cooking dinner for my three kids, who are aged eight, nine and 10. It would be awful to be called out while cooking the turkey.

But I don’t drink that much in case I have to drive and my husband will be at home as well to look after the kids. If I’m called out while I’m in the car and the children are with me, though, they’ll have to come along too.”

Joy Atkinson

“I’ll be working right through the Christmas holiday until new year’s eve. I have full responsibility for the care of all the residents and I also manage eight staff.

I’ve worked the past seven Christmases but I don’t mind because it’s important that the residents celebrate properly.

I might be glad to be called out once the kids start bickering

Sara Nott

My family and I still celebrate Christmas together, but we just do it on a different day. The grandchildren love it because they get two Christmases. They come to me for the evening of Christmas Day and again a week later. Santa always manages to leave them something extra the second time.

We have 27 residents, aged from 61 to 97. People have to be helped out of bed and washed and dressed as normal. At 10am we’ll have coffee and watch the carol service; a little later we have mince pies and drinks – people can have whatever they fancy and some like to have sherry, wine or whisky.

Then we open presents. Everybody gets something different – one gentleman likes navy rum so he gets a bottle of that; one lady was given a pair of satin pyjamas and another one who loves make-up got some Oil of Olay face cream. Once an elderly lady started crying when we gave her a sparkly necklace – she said it was all she’d ever wanted. When you’ve worked hard all your life, there’s not always money for these things but, at the age of 87, this lady got something she treasured.

The night staff do a wonderful job wrapping presents so they’re ready for Christmas morning, and then a resident will dress up as Santa and give them out.

Before lunch we’ll have drinks and then turkey with all the trimmings – it’s exactly the same as a home-cooked Christmas lunch would be. We have three people who don’t like meat so they have a nice poached salmon. Then we’ll settle down to watch the Queen’s speech – the residents really enjoy that. A snack trolley loaded with sweets and cakes is brought round in the early afternoon, after which we’ll have a buffet tea.

In the evening, organisations such as the Salvation Army come round to put on carol services. We make sure we have a Christmas tree, holly and Christmas roses. We have scented candles, but don’t light them because we don’t want to create a fire hazard.

In the evening, we’ll watch a film and play games – something like charades, which always goes down well.

All staff get paid double time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but some will pop in even if they’re not on duty.

One of the highlights for me was a few years ago, when we had a lady who was very fastidious – praise from her didn’t come easy. But she stood up at lunchtime and said the two Christmases she’d spent with us had been the best since she was a child, and thanked the staff for working so hard.”