Harvest Festival - Rev Andrew Butcher St Barnabas, Fendalton

Here are some numbers for you.

438.

That was roughly the number of people I was talking to at Medbury School on Tuesday – all their students, most of their staff, where we celebrated their Harvest service. The boys and their families had provided non-perishable food, which was stacked neatly on the stage; the choristers sang a song in which they named many fruits and vegetables, and we were warm, and we were sheltered, especially important that day, as only a few hours earlier hail, thunder and lightning had passed its way through suburb of Fendalton.

438.

That’s also the number of people who have used the emergency housing provided by the City Mission in the last year. That is, people who otherwise had nowhere else to live, had no roof over their heads, had not shelter, had no protection from the elements or from those who would do them harm. There are many complex reasons why people need to access emergency accommodation, and it is not always by choice.

But 438 of them did.