The new Gateway is on the way
Gateway Women’s Centre is working as hard as ever to offer emotional, practical and spiritual support to women, despite not being able to open our Centre for group or 1:1 support during lockdown. We are mainly supporting women one to one through phone, text, email, Zoom, and letter support, and through our weekly Zoom groups, food bank, and Pen Pal Scheme.
We had a 1529 1:1s with our service users from March – December 2020. We also had a total of 324 attendances at our Zoom groups and gave out a recorded number of 110 food bags between September – December 2020.
Gifts and not just at Christmas: In 2020, we also sent out gifts and special deliveries, to let our women know that we are still here and thinking about them. This included more than 100 face masks, 44 craft packs, 63 Christian themed cards, 90 Christmas gift bags, packets of cress seeds to grow and more. We know from our service users that this support is making such a huge difference to them in these difficult times: “Huge thanks to all you lovely ladies at Gateway who I feel are always there for us. Knowing you are there at the end of the phone if needed, all the online stuff available to us and the thoughtful, touching little gifts like the cress seeds have really helped me stay out of that very dark place I was in a few years ago. I’m sure there are yet more difficult days ahead but feel a little comfort that you will all be the
Update on the Gateway Building: We are very excited that we have the finances to buy, extend and refurbish 52 Station Road, where Gateway Women’s Centre has been running for 10 years. As we get closer to being able to call the centre our own, we are very busy planning the building work and refurbishments that will need to take place during 2021. We are working with professionals to create a new-look centre that has a homely and welcoming feel, with flexibility to cater for our different drop ins, workshops and courses.
We’ll need to do some major work to repair the leaking roof and windows, hopefully followed by the building of an extension into the garden, and reconfiguration of the current layout of the building. We have every hope that this will be a huge blessing to our service users, and every faith that it will happen in God’s good timing. We’ll have a grand re-opening, which will be doubly exciting as we have had to close our Centre for so long during the pandemic. The women we work with are very excited for the new centre, asking us for regular updates, and some even saying that coming back to a new and exciting Gateway is what is keeping them going in these difficult times.
This reminds us of some of the amazing feedback we’ve received from women about our Centre:
“Gateway is a wonderful place that provides so many women with a safe place to go.”
“This place is a community of love.”
“Gateway is the one place I come where I feel comfortable and truly myself.”
“I don't know what it is about Gateway but there is a lovely peace in every room you are in.”
“When I'm in here it's safe and I'm with Jesus. Love is all around.”
“If I could take what you have here at Gateway and spread it around, everyone would be so much better off.”
“It's a real sanctuary.”
“I loved the atmosphere at the centre from when I first walked in. Truly a place of peace and healing.”
We are so grateful to our funders, supporters, and the many people offering up their services for free in order to help us purchase, extend and refurbish our very special Centre, where so many women find hope, peace, community, support, safety and love. Please keep praying for our building!