Porchlight to the Rescue
By Lauren, Entertainment and Lifestyle Editor and Milo, Assistant Entertainment and Lifestyle Editor
Porchlight is a charity that helps mainly homeless people that have no one else to turn to. Nathan Tough, a representative of the charity Porchlight came to visit Dartford Grammar School and we conducted an interview with him to find out about this noble charity.
The reason Nathan gave for joining the charity is that he “wanted to fight for the little guy” and the job seemed perfect for him as it is a combination of everything he knows giving help to every on that needs it.
Homelessness has increased lately due to housing benefits changing and so Porchlight is in need of funds and help from the public even more. This way, the public can help them by raising fund money.
Nathan stated that one must be 18 and over to help the charity due to safeguarding reasons because every individual has a variety of needs.
He added: “Also, new members could give one careless phrase and this could ultimately set back the whole two years’ worth of work that we have spent with an individual. Our team need to have experience and be capable in the field of psychologically informed environments too.”
A case that moved Nathan the most was one of a rough sleeper in Canterbury city: “The outreach team; which is the section of Porchlight that goes out and finds rough sleepers, met a guy who was severely ill and was sleeping on the streets. He had a growth above his eye that was so severe that it moved his eye down his face. This man also had learning difficulties and this consequently meant that when he went into hospitals to get some help he couldn’t compute when someone told him to come back another day. Furthermore, he also couldn’t get any appointments as he didn’t have a home address. His tough life of having cancer six months previous to this and his sleeping rough meant when Porchlight’s outreach team found him, he was stuck in a “horrible cycle” where he couldn’t get any help or support. Sonya, part of the Outreach team stepped in and picked him up and he was brought to a hospital in Ashford where he was properly diagnosed with cancer and here they helped to administer treatment which involved his eye being removed and a skin graft. Now Porchlight has helped him reconnect with his family and he is also independently housed.”
This is a moving story that proves just how important charities like Porchlight are for the community.
Nathan finished the interview with, “in three words I would describe Porchlight as innovative because of their new ways of doing things, empathy as they feel exactly what the people are going through and hope as their ultimate aim is to eradicate homelessness.”