Folkestone Churches Winter Shelter

Folkestone Churches Winter Shelter

FOLKESTONE CHURCHES WINTER SHELTER

SESSIONALWORKER

£15,000p.a. (pro rata including holidays) for a 12hr week (30thNovember 2015- 29thFebruary2016).

Folkestone Churches Winter Shelter is a coalition of churches, working in collaboration with the Folkestone Rainbow Centre; the charity that is responsible for the management and governance of the project. The project offers hospitality and shelter to homeless people through the coldest period in the winter. This winter the shelters will be open from 7December 2015 to 29 February 2016. Seven hosting churches cover every evening and night of the week through this period. The project is supported by Shepway District Council, local agencies and charities.

The Shelter’s aims are:

  • To provide an evening and night shelter for homeless people in Folkestone using church buildings and members through the coldest period of the winter.
  • To engage church members with some of the most vulnerable people in Folkestone without discrimination, expressing Christian compassion in building supportive relationships.
  • To help homeless people move on to appropriate accommodation, resisting dependency on the shelter.
  • To establish the funding and administrative support necessary to enable the provision of such a shelter to continue in future years.

The SessionalWorkers will be part of a team of fivestaffand anything up to 200 volunteers. In 2014/15,200 people registered an interest in volunteering of which183were actively engaged in the venues and others cooked, prayed and provided other support.This winter there will be several voluntary posts that will be key to the project, including a Volunteer Co-ordinator. The SessionalWorkerswill work closely with these key volunteers.

The SessionalWorkerswill be required to operate as part of the project team as agreed with the Project Manager so that their evenings on duty (including Christmas and the New Year) will best meet the requirements of the Shelter across its seven church venues. The team will be backed up by the venue Co-ordinators at each church who will take on more responsibility for their venue.

The Project Manager, together with the Project Worker and Sessional Workers, will be the face of the project to both volunteers and guests, and will need to embody and express its compassionate Christian ethos.

TheSessionalWorkerswill be responsible to the Project Manager and through her/him to the CEO of Folkestone Rainbow Centre and ultimately to the Steering Group.Office space, payroll, peer support and most necessary policies and procedures will be provided by the Folkestone Rainbow Centre.
Job Description

The SessionalWorker is responsible for:

Teamwork & partnership

  • Working with the team in advancing and achieving, alongside churches and partner organisations, the first three core aims of the Shelter.
  • When the Project Manager is off-duty, or otherwise not available, the Sessional Workers willbe able to work independently and take on additional responsibilities as required.

Logistics

  • Ability to drive a people carrier to transport personnel and resources to the venues.
  • Providing logistical management of the shelters, ensuring all required bedding and equipment is on site and available at the appropriate times for each night of the Shelter.
  • Ensuring venue security is maintained to the highest possible standard.

Guests

  • Making agreed judgements on accessing the shelter, bearing in mind risk, in the best interests of both the person in need and the volunteer teams so as to maintain safety.
  • Ensure any paperwork is accurately maintained.
  • Work as part of the project team to offer signposting to partner agencies.

Volunteers

  • Helping to ensure that a briefing session is provided each evening before the Shelter opens.
  • Helping to ensure all venues are risk-assessed and meet health and safety requirements, including for food preparation.
  • Working supportively with the Project Manager, Project Worker and the Venue Co-ordinator assigned by each church to help build and maintain a strong team of volunteers at each venue. The Sessional Worker will assist the Project Manager and Project Worker in supporting the Churches staff their venues with volunteers.
  • Assisting with the implementation of policies to safeguard the security and safety of volunteers.
  • Encouraging and guiding volunteers in best practice.
  • Maintaining good relationships with the churches in Folkestone offering venues to the Winter Shelter Project.

Other responsibilities

  • Ensuring that Rainbow Centre policies and procedures, as applicable to the Winter Shelter and ones formulated for the project, are adhered to and in particular - but not exclusively - those on Health and Safety, Equal Opportunities, Volunteers and Confidentiality.
  • Undertaking other duties aimed at the highest standards in running the project, as required by the Project Manager.

Person Specification

We recognise that it is unlikely that any one person will have all the essential and desirable qualities we seek. It is therefore important that as an applicant you are aware of your own strengths and weaknesses so that wecan seek to fill any gaps in experience and/or knowledge required. Team working is therefore essential.

Essential

  • Experience of working with, and awareness of the complex needs of, homeless people or similar disadvantaged client groups.
  • Ability to work independently, with initiative to make responsible and well-judged decisions.
  • Experience of, and confidence in handling,challenging behaviour.
  • An awarenessof the welfare issues affecting homeless people, including statutory obligations towards them.
  • Ability to move equipment related to the shelter from church to church and loading and unloading the vehicle.
  • Effective, flexible and supportive team member.
  • Highly organised with close attention to detail.
  • Excellent communication skills with a diverse range of people.
  • Sympathy with, and commitment to, the project’s distinctively Christian ethos.
  • Empathetic and compassionate approach to vulnerable people in need, expressive of the project’s Christian ethos.
  • Ability to implement and maintain operational policies including Health and Safety, Risk Assessment.
  • Valid clean driving licence and willingness to drive a people carrier.
  • Availability and willingness to work early and late hours as required, including weekend and national holidays such as Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, to be agreed with the Project Manager so that every day and evening is covered during the period.
  • Understanding of and commitment to Equal Opportunities.

Desirable

  • Previous experience of a winter shelter for homeless people.
  • Experience and effectiveness in working with volunteers.
  • Familiarity with and understanding of church life and governance in their diverse forms in English culture.
  • An awarenessof existing support services for homeless people, especially in Folkestone and across Kent.
  • First Aid training

Employment is subject to provision of adequate references and an Enhanced Criminal Records check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS formerly CRB).

Folkestone Churches Winter Shelter encourages applicants from all sections of the community.

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