PASSIONATE staff and volunteers at a Worcester day centre which helps the homeless rebuild their lives have celebrated its 30th birthday.
In 1985 just before Christmas, Maggs Day Centre opened its doors following the death of a homeless man living rough on the city streets.
His death prompted members of several Worcester churches to get together and form an action group, who based their community work in the former St Alban’s church.
Yesterday (Monday), the Deansway day centre celebrated 30 years of providing support, training and practical assistance to the vulnerable people of Worcester.
Over the years, Maggs has developed a ‘Health Hub’, where services users can access a variety of health professionals including a dentist, prescribing nurse, substance abuse workers and a podiatrist.
The centre has also provided showers, laundry facilities and meals, along with the clothing project, set-up in 2005, which offers sleeping bags, clothes and starter packs all free of charge, every week in Samsone Walk.
The centre’s activity centre has expanded since it began in 2012 on Copenhagen Street, where service users gain education and skills through IT, money management, music, art, cooking, social skills, literacy and numeracy courses.
As part of the celebrations, a meal was held at the Guildhall on Saturday December, 12 by the day centre, in honour of the work the community does – 41 per cent of the day centre’s funding comes from the Worcester public.
Mel Kirk, centre manager said: “We’re so happy to reach our 30th birthday. To mark reaching the milestone, I rang the Worcester Cathedral bells 30 times after midday yesterday (Monday).
“On Friday (December 18) we had Drumlove, Ryan Compton and Birmingham’s Poet Laureate Spoz, come in to play music and write poetry with the service users.
“A moving picture of the day centre, drawn by one of our service users, was also presented to us.
“I’ve been here for more than 12 years now and have seen the day centre expand so much. Next year we’ll be starting up a befriending project, which will see volunteers get training to aid service users outside the day centre.”
