2024: A Review of the year
Time to reflect
As we approach the end of 2024, I hope that you are reading this reflecting on your own year and feeling positive about what you have accomplished. For those of us at Restore it has certainly been a year packed with exciting developments. From the residents who have moved into their own independent accommodation this year, to the establishment of our second female-resident house, to the introduction of our community hub and peer-support spaces, there has been much to celebrate!
Happy new homes
In the last twelve months, forty-two residents have moved on from Restore to a place of their own. Though they may not have all wanted a key picture for our social media, they have all had the joy of knowing they have successfully journeyed out of homelessness. They’ve also benefitted from the follow on support offered by our Floating Housing Support Worker, Hilary, and all received a new home pack, which (you may recall) was our Christmas fundraising campaign last year. If you donated towards that appeal this time last year, you can rest assured that every resident who received a move-on pack appreciated the provision of essential items, that helped them feel at home from the moment they moved into their new place.
Another house for females
The amount of supported accommodation we provide for female residents is one area we were keen to expand this year and we’re delighted to have been able to work with a local landlord to make this happen. Our second house for female residents has been a long time in the planning stages, and it’s wonderful that we were able to welcome three ladies into that house in November. We now have the highest number of female residents we’ve ever had at any one time! Christian and Vinny had put in a lot of hard work in the weeks prior to move-in day getting the house ready with furnishings and so on. Huge thanks to both of them for all their efforts; as you can see from the image, the house looks very welcoming and homely!
Peer-support
Our peer-support group and community hub have been massive steps forward this year, as they mean we are able to maintain links with former residents and facilitate their support of one another in a more structured way. We’ve appointed Lenny to co-ordinate the hubs and manage the peer-support work, and her impact has already been seen in the many different things that have taken place, such as these hand-painted model houses.
Some of our peer-support group members were able to come along and enjoy spending time together at our meal with Yahala Mataam in November. This was courtesy of those supporters who generously bought a pay-it-forward ticket for the event, so if that was you, a huge thank you from us. The event was fully booked, and the food was amazing! It was great to hear from Rob at Yahala about the work they are doing supporting refugees in York, and also from our own Paddy and Ruth about the work we do. We hope to announce news of our events for 2025 very soon, so keep a close eye on out events page and our social media channels for more information.
Looking forwards
Whilst none of us know what the future may hold, as a Christian organisation we feel confident that whatever lies in store in 2025, we can trust it to the God who sustains all things and cares deeply about every one of us. We trust that He will guide us as we seek to make York a city where everybody has a home and a hope for the future. We will keep working in obedience to this command from the New Testament of the Bible:
“Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18[1]
Thank you for your sustained support this year; we look forward to sharing more stories of restored lives with you over the course of the year to come. Everyone at Restore wishes you a very happy new year.