I’d visited Maggs a few years ago and mistakenly thought I knew Maggs. I visited them this week and learnt that they are getting bigger and more ambitious. Maggs is a charity that supports the homeless and vulnerable. They provide the basics, a lifeline to help people survive the worst of what life throws at them.
The people they are helping often have a big mistrust of society and have very often been subjected to a series of adverse childhood experiences from an upbringing where their parents may have separated, in homes that have physical or sexual abuse, where a parent has been to prison or had issues with alcohol or drug abuse. How lucky am I to have not endured what many of them have endured?
At their core Maggs operate through open-door day centres, where they provide service users the essentials of life, a cooked breakfast, showers, clothing washing and drying, and much more. They have a large distrust of society. So once through the door the team will sensitively help them with referrals, housing, benefits, appointments, and whatever our service users need to give them the confidence and support to make the first steps to achieving their goals.
They also support service users through the Clothing Project. This is run solely on donations from the public and offers things from basic essentials like underwear, sleeping bags, and toiletries to houseware items like kettles, cutlery etc., to those who have secured housing.
The Maggs team is second to none, they are incredibly passionate and work tirelessly to offer exceptional support and help to bring light into service users’ lives but also to instil that hope that there is somebody who cares.