Love Southampton Marks 10-Year Anniversary
Love Southampton will host a forum this month marking its 10-year anniversary. The forum will be held at Central Hall, where the partnership was first launched in January 2013. The collaboration of churches and charities was created with a view to being more involved in some of the challenges in the city – at that time, significant budget cuts were made to Children’s Services. One initiative launched by Love Southampton in 2013 was the successful campaign for new foster carers – ‘Families for Forty’. The campaign to find foster homes for 40 children led to many new foster carers being recruited from churches. At the same time, churches also kept open youth centres which otherwise would have closed.
Independent Chair of Love Southampton, Professor Keith Brown said, ‘Because of this important milestone we feel that there is no better time to reflect on what Love Southampton has achieved, whether its goals and mission statement are still accurate, and where it should go in the future. We are extending this invite to representatives from all churches in Southampton, regardless of whether they are members of our board.’
‘We think that this is a very exciting time for churches within Southampton as we emerge into a ‘new-normal’ post COVID. New opportunities are emerging for the churches in Southampton to support the city during this time of need. This forum will be an excellent opportunity for churches to hear what we have done over the last year and for us all to review how and what we do to support those who are vulnerable and in need, and to plan for further action in the light of the cost-of-living crisis.’
Representing the Board of Love Southampton, the Bishop of Southampton, Debbie Sellin commented, ‘The essence of Love Southampton has not changed over the past 10 years and it has adapted, as needed, to the different adversities being faced. It played a key role during the pandemic and is now helping mobilise churches to respond to the cost-of-living crisis through Warm Spaces and food programmes. This forum provides an opportunity to gather across the church denominations and see how we can better work together.’
Love Southampton has delivered an innovative project this past year, funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, under the Faith New Deal grant programme. Community grants from Love Southampton have enable community groups to improve their food provision across the city. The recent food census reported that nearly one million free meals are given out by charities in Southampton each year.
