It’s a frosty evening and I’m in my warm car, driving to West London Synagogue. As I wait at traffic lights near to my central London destination, a homeless man taps on my window, waving a paper cup.
I drive on, middle-class guilt slightly assuaged by the fact I’m on my way to help feed other homeless people.
Every Saturday night, in the basement of the shul, a team of volunteers prepares a three-course meal for 15 invited, homeless people. WLS is part of a group of institutions that includes a number of churches, and the Al Manaar Mosque. Between them, they feed the group each night of the week as part of the West London Mission Night Shelter, a project overseen by Methodist charity, the West London Mission.
In the synagogue’s well-equipped, industrial-looking kitchen, a team is already hard at work. “We’ve been volunteering here once a month since 2014” says lead cook, Debbie Sonin, a shul member for 14 years with husband Adam Sonin. Debbie, who trained as a chef at Leith’s School of Food and Wine has her apron on and is directing two volunteers, already chopping veg in a corner of the large room. Adam is providing moral support, and an extra pair of hands for shlepping.
It’s so cold, the guests have been invited from 5.30pm, an hour earlier than usual. Jewish mother Debbie is concerned they’ll be hungry during the wait until dinner is served at 7.30pm. So she has brought home -baked brownies and cookies to hand out with hot drinks on arrival. Guests sit at tables; some playing board games with volunteers, others choosing to sit alone.
Nic Schlagman, Head of Social Action and Interfaith at WLS, arrives with his four-year-old daughter, Ruby. He explains that WLS runs the Saturday-night shelter for eight months of the year. There are 14 or 15 venues involved in the scheme, which include Westminster Cathedral and St James’ Piccadilly. Al Manaar Mosque is the first mosque in the country to join the night shelter project. Over the winter, the project will support up to 75 to 80 people. “Each week, one or two will move on. During the day, they are extensively worked with so that they are able to move into accommodation — last year 40 guests were housed across the season.” The idea is to get them all into accommodation, but the successes remain a drop in the ocean, and that is the problem. “A quarter of all UK rough sleepers are in Westminster,” I’m told. The estimated figure of people sleeping rough in the capital is more than 1,000.
WLS was also heavily involved in assisting victims in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, delivering food regularly and running a day-camp project for children.
The following night, Schlagman will return to supervise a team of Jewish and Muslim teenage volunteers as they prepare 150 portions of a vegetarian curry with rice to be distributed by more volunteers at Victoria Station and on the streets.
Schlagman explains that guests are broadly from three groups. “A third are older white, British men; another third, Eastern European men in their 20s or 30s and the last — African refugees and asylum seekers — include men and women.”
“The real magic of the project is that each night the homeless guests sit down to eat with the volunteers. It’s the socialising that really helps. If you experience being ignored by 99.9 per cent of people who pass you, you become invisible. Your hope and dignity vanish. The shelter allows them to sit down with people and make those connections that bring back hope and self-esteem. Within a couple of days, it changes and is then reinforced daily.”
On the menu tonight: pea soup dotted with rustic croutons; a savoury cheesecake; lentil and rice salad (made by me to Debbie’s recipe) and leaf salad with lemon dressing. Dessert is a pomegranate and raspberry cake with crème fraîche and berries. Debbie instructs volunteers on the garnishes for each course.
A local branch of Gail’s Bakery has donated boxes of unsold bread, salads and cakes. Some is sliced and served in baskets with the meal and the rest wrapped for the guests to take them away with them. The tables are festive — laid with flowers, runners and colourful napkins.
When the meal is ready, Debbie emerges from the kitchen to announce the menu which she and the volunteers serve. Rabbi Sybil Sheridan assists and she and the volunteers sit down with the homeless guests. Rabbi Sheridan will sleep in her office tonight and serve them breakfast tomorrow morning.
Andy is quiet at first, but reveals that today his bag — with all his possessions in — has been taken, for the third time. He has been attending the shelter for several months but still chooses to sleep rough on occasions when the communality of the project becomes too much for him: “Sometimes you need to get away from other people” he explains.
Stan, who is in his 60s, made it on to the shelter’s list a few months ago. It’s his first time here and he’s delighted. “I’m hoping to get my own place. I’ve never actually slept on the street, I sleep in public places like airports — it feels safer.”
Volunteers are Jewish and non-Jewish. “For the non-Jewish members of the team, it’s an experience of a synagogue and of Jewish people. For the Jewish helpers, it’s a great way for those whose Jewish identity is important and for whom praying is not as important for them as being an active member of the synagogue.”
