'Busy months ahead' for Teesside organisation supporting families
Hope Church East Cleveland has a welcome space that acts as a warm space
Last updated 1st May 2025
An organisation in Teesside say they are expecting a busy January and February when it comes to supporting people in need at their welcome warm space.
Hope Church East Cleveland is based in Loftus and they put on a number of free activities all year round to help families and children.
Emma Dacey, Pioneer Pastor, said: "People have had the financial burden of Christmas and therefore they're trying to juggle their way through January and February, but also there's kind of a psychological and emotional dip after Christmas where people are feeling quite down and low. It's still dark outside and you kind of haven't got the excitement of Christmas to look forward.
"We find we're supporting people quite a lot emotionally within those winter months as well as putting on things. We always make sure come February half-term, we've got lots of free events on for kids and families, just that sort of 'pick-me-up' so they have something to look forward to, just to kind of break up that darkness that I feel at at that time of the year.
"We have that lull after Christmas and it seems to just not get warmer. I think I can speak for a lot of welcome spaces that it's quite hard to get through those early spring months from a financial point of view. Obviously as you can imagine, welcome spaces don't generate you any income but they cost quite a lot because you're putting on the heating and you're providing refreshments which we do unconditionally."
Emma says you can give back and support: "Find your local welcome and warm spaces and say 'look, can we volunteer maybe with hours?', 'can we provide supplies such as teas and coffees?', 'could we help you towards your energy bills to keep those spaces running?', because we find those months quite tricky from a financial point of view to keep open and I'm sure that goes for al ot of welcome spaces that they want to be open."