What makes a warm welcome?

“At our Living Rooms there’s lots of joy and laughter. Laughter is the best medicine” – Carolyn and Mark Gilmore (Hub leaders at Oasis Hub Foundry and Bolton)

We launched Oasis Living Rooms in 2022 in the face of the ‘cost of living crisis’ – opening our buildings (churches, schools, and community spaces) for longer to provide warm spaces, and ease the burden on households of high energy prices and rising inflation.

We’ve opened them again for autumn/winter 2023, providing spaces of warmth and friendship where we can build community together. Whilst no one Living Room is the same – reflecting the diversity of the Oasis family – they share four main features that make them places of warmth and welcome:

  • A warm space, giving everyone an alternative to using energy at home.
  • Simple food, doing a little bit to relieve pressure on household budgets.
  • Community, supporting each other, and making life feel less lonely when times are hard.
  • Laughter, reminding each other that even in the midst of hardship we can choose joy.

 

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Living Room projects
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will fund a Living Room for a whole week

"The most transformative thing in the hub"

Andy Brown, leader at Oasis Hub Hobmoor, bought his hub a washing machine to wash football kits after the youth club. Over time more and more community members started using the washing machine and now it’s “the most transformative thing in the hub” according to Andy – and available to all at Oasis Living Room sessions.

The machine is widely used by those who do not have the own means to wash their clothes at home. “It’s a health issue and stigma issue, when kids turn up at school without a clean, nice-smelling school uniform this has a knock-on effect on their day and their learning. On Saturday, we have loads of parents coming in to wash their children’s school uniforms. Some who don’t have a machine or struggle to pay the cost of a wash.

This is a big issue now – especially with 13,000 children currently living in temporary accommodation in Birmingham. The machine is very rarely off.”

Our Oasis Living Rooms are not just about providing warmth but about building community by making sure that all are supported, included and cared for.

Resources for you

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