A SPECIAL information evening has been organised ahead of Homeless Sunday.

Tonight there will be an open meeting of Dorchester Poverty Action in the Dorford Centre coffee lounge at 7pm.

The speakers will be Kerry Mellor of the Street Homeless Outreach Team and Fiona Dunbar of You Trust, who both work locally to support anyone facing homelessness.

Homeless Sunday will be taking place this Sunday.

This is an opportunity for churches of all denominations and people of all faiths to unite and show solidarity with those experiencing homelessness and to reflect and plan practical action.

The focus of this year’s Homeless Sunday is - ‘The impact of volunteering on the volunteer.’

Val Potter of Churches Together in Dorchester said: “The churches will use prayers and materials from Housing Justice, a Christian charity set up specially to raise awareness and promote action on homelessness by the churches.

“The churches and faith communities are recognised as providing local help and filling some of the gaps in provision of the statutory and other bodies. Local churches try to do whatever they can, the united church offers a hot meal once a month and the baptist church can give some basic signposting advice alongside the foodbank. The town centre chaplains have given help contact numbers to local shops who come across homeless people. Most churches will offer a hot drink and a dry place to shelter to those who need it, but they are usually not allowed to give money. A listening ear may not sound much help but often this is what is really appreciated by the homeless people I have met. They need to feel that they are valued even if their lives are making them feel worthless.”

Housing Justice says there were 65 night shelters operating across the Housing Justice network in 2013, there are 125 across England and Wales today.

All forms of homelessness have increased by 4 per cent in the UK since 2017.