Herringbone House & Catching Lives Christmas Charity Collaboration

Helping to Raise Funding for Grassroots Homeless Charity Catching Lives

Catching Lives is a small grassroots Charity in Canterbury that supports rough sleepers, and throughout the winter months, provides a night shelter for some of the most vulnerable in our community. Sadly, the amount of people coming through the doors of Catching Lives rose by a record 30.6% this last year and the number is expected to increase further this winter.

Historically Catching Lives services have primarily supported rough sleepers, however over the last few years they have seen a rise in the numbers of people contacting them who are vulnerably housed and at risk of becoming homeless (most experiencing this for the first time). For the people that Catching Lives supports, it can be a long journey to getting back on their feet and recovering from the trauma of rough sleeping. The night shelter supports someone with a warm meal and safe place to sleep.

Some of you might have seen this video a few years ago, when we first made it in conjunction with Catching Lives. So much has changed over the last few years and the charity reached out to see if we could run the appeal again this Christmas season. While service users have increased, critical funding is desperately needed to keep the service running. Catching Lives is able to do so much with little funding, £20 can help feed one homeless person at the shelter for an entire week.  We know everyone is feeling the pinch, but if you are fortunate enough to give this season, please consider this small grassroots charity. 

Sadly James Duff, who plays the homeless man in the video, has passed away. James was a pivotal person in Catching Lives, having previously been a service user and later becoming a Trustee, James’ loss has been felt across Canterbury and especially within Catching Lives. 

Our annual Christmas campaign in support of homelessness charity, Catching Lives is very important to us. The appeal, “Together We Can”, helps to keep the winter shelter running and to keep James Duff’s memory alive, he will always have a place in ours and in Canterbury’s hearts.

Herringbone House and Catching Lives have come together to help visualise the struggle of homelessness at this time of year and how kindness can truly make a difference in a heart-warming video that can be viewed here. There were no actors used in the video, the family in the film are Lydia and Rob Merry, clients of Herringbone Kitchens and the homeless man is James Duff, who was previously a Trustee of Catching Lives but has now sadly passed away. Red Cape Productions directed and produced the film and Maxine Scott produced and recorded the single ‘Together We Can.’ The filming was shot across Canterbury and at the Winter Night Shelter at Catching Lives.

Together there are easy ways to help support the homeless, through giving time or money. Help us help this wonderful charity continue their work keeping people in need safe this winter period - donate here.

“Together We Can” was filmed pre-covid and is a tale of a family preparing for Christmas dinner alongside their daughter who is filling up a box of greeting cards ready to hand out. Outside, on the street, a homeless person made origami angels, handing them out to people as they pass and wishing them a Merry Christmas. The girl give the homeless person one of her greeting cards and, before the can reach for his angel, she is gone. He opens the letter and sees an invitation to a Christmas meal at a shelter, which he joins. At the shelter he sees the little girl and gives her the angel, which she places on the Christmas tree - together we can make a difference to someone this Christmas.

William Durrant, founder and director here at Herringbone Kitchens said: “What this charity does, see and achieves is extraordinary and we are proud to be able to help them. We know many people are struggling this year, but if you are lucky enough to be in a fortunate position in 2020, we hope to encourage others to donate time and money to help those struggling. We are in our 6th year of supporting Catching Lives and are proud to have seen first hand the amazing work they do, day in day out.”

James Duff, Trustee at Catching Lives said “Throughout 2020 we have had to constantly respond and adapt to new Covid guidelines. We continue to be so keen to offer vital services that have never been more needed by our clients. We are determined not to be defeated and never stop being grateful for partners like Herringbone Kitchens who are so keen to support us. We will serve more meals this year than in any year on record, over 20,000 and we expect to see more new clients than any previous year. As the weather gets colder and more people find themselves without a home we are desperate to be there for them.”