Christians have been given £16,000 to patrol the streets of Canterbury at the weekends and look after drunken revellers out on the town.
Volunteers at the Canterbury Baptist Church already dedicate Wednesday evenings to helping the drunk and distressed as part of their Lighthouse Project, but they want to expand to cover the city at weekends.
Samuel Locke, the Lighthouse Project’s manager, said: “We want to get all of the churches in Canterbury working together to set up a scheme called Street Pastors.
“It is a national project that has been set up already in towns and cities across the country. We will provide a three- team patrol on a Friday or Saturday and that will go out onto the streets to make sure people are okay.
“If they have had too much to drink we will make sure there is someone safe to talk to them, we will look after people on their own and will be another physical presence in the town centre.
“That is being done in partnership with the council and the police and we will be working together to provide the service.”
The scheme will also see the church-goers giving out flip-flops to ladies who have ditched their uncomfortable shoes for the walk home, anti-drink spiking devices, and blankets.
The Christians also hope to provide a minibus which would they would use to help those who can’t get home by taxi.
At the moment 12 to14 volunteers a week congregate in the Canterbury Baptist Church on St George’s Place at 11.30am and remain until 4am to minister to those who are the worse for wear after a night out.
The volunteers, most but not all of whom are Christian, feed coffee, toast and refreshments to 160 to 260 people a night to sober them up and calm them down. They also provide first aid and walk people home or call them taxis.
Simon Lovell, a volunteer, said: “For me Christianity is a big part of this because it is the reason I do it.
“I don’t do it just because it is a community project, I do it because I am a Christian and I think it is the kind of thing Jesus wants us to do. I love the people of Canterbury, even the people who are difficult to love because they are really lairy and disgusting with vomit all over them!”
Mr Locke said: “People tend to quieten down whilst they are here and on their way out as well, so they are quiet on their way home, which is one of the reasons we are here.
“You do get some that are absolutely wasted. Last week we had a guy that came in who was pretty bad, at the point of almost calling an ambulance, but we were able to give him toast and sober him up, then walk him home to his housemate.
“That saved a call-out which was quite good, from his point of view anyway.”
The Lighthouse Project was originally set up because the classmate one an associate minister at the Baptist Church, Andrew Fitzgerald, went missing in Norwich city centre whilst celebrating his 17th birthday. His body was later found in a nearby river.
Volunteers and organisers say they will talk about their beliefs to people who ask about them, but are not interested in forcing Christianity on people.
POSTED: 10/03/2010 08:00:00
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