The chaplaincy team at Manchester University and the city’s Holy Name
Church have combined forces to launch a night shelter for asylum
seekers.
The Boaz Night Shelter is a Christian initiative which was launched
in October, and the Jesuit local church has been able to open its doors
to ten asylum seekers in support of the Boaz project.
With the support of local students, Holy Name Church has provided
each refugee with a hot meal and shelter for the night for three months
running.
After visiting the Manchester operation last weekend, the Boaz
Trust’s Night Shelter Coordinator, Jonny Wilson, wrote: “It genuinely
amazed and impressed me to see what a great system you have and how well
you understand the Boaz Night Shelter after only two and a half months
of being in operation. It’s such a relief for me to know that Saturday
nights are taken care of and run so smoothly.”
The Manchester Chaplaincy’s Interfaith Coordinator, Hinna said:
“Being an asylum seeker myself, I am overwhelmed by the way God is using
my personal experience in helping others who are on a similar journey
as myself.”
The night shelter ministry is shared with a number of other churches
in central Manchester, so there is somewhere for destitute asylum
seekers to stay every night throughout the winter.