LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

On the first episode of Ferry Project’s own Rural Homelessness Podcast, host Matt McChlery spoke with our director, Keith Smith, about the origins of the charity and where the idea for Ferry Project first came from.

Keith was originally a teacher of chemistry, and an active member of his local church. It was through this that he first became aware of the issue of rural homelessness, as the church often received requests for help from homeless people in the area. He recognised that there was currently no official government or local authority provision for this; in rural areas like Wisbech, homeless people often choose to sleep in woodlands or fields, as this is safer than sleeping on the streets. But it means they’re often overlooked, and governments do not recognise rural homelessness as a large issue. So, it had been left up to the church to support homeless people in the area. They would find homeless people a family to stay with for a while, or give money to those who were passing through looking for work.

Keith and his wife often supported those families who had taken in someone homeless, but one year, at Christmas, Keith decided he wanted to take more action to help. Initially, he thought it wouldn’t be possible, as he had a wife and five children to support, so couldn’t quit his teaching job.

However, about a year later, Keith got laryngitis and completely lost his voice. This lasted over 4 months, and with doctors telling him that over-exerting his vocal chords could potentially damage them permanently, he had no other choice but to retire.

So his wife went to work whilst he stayed home with his children, which gave him time to properly develop an idea to support local homeless people.

Following 2 years of discussions and planning, the Ferry Project became a registered charity in 1999. At the time, it had 11 volunteers and just a few hundred pounds, and had started to assist some homeless people in finding accommodation.

But Keith wanted more than to just put a roof over someone’s head. He had seen first hand the positive impact that being placed with a family for a while had had on homeless people, back when the church was the only support for them. He wanted to create that same atmosphere, so that clients could receive the kind of love and support he knew they would not have felt in some time.

Hence Ferry Project later moved to the building where it is now, transforming an old hotel into a hostel for homeless people to stay whilst support staff help them to get their lives back on track.

Nowadays, we are the primary homelessness provider for Fenland District Council, and have enough space across our accommodation to support 84 people at once. We’ve expanded from just the original hostel to include supported accommodation in other areas of Wisbech, as well as building new emergency accommodation on our main site to help those coming straight off the streets.

We work with many other organisations and charities to find the right support for each one of our clients, and run a SWEP provision to keep rough sleepers safe during the coldest winters and hottest summers. We also employ an outreach team to actively go looking for homeless people in the area, so that those who are not so visible can still receive support. We’re also able to help those at risk of homelessness, and just last year prevented some 100 people from losing their accommodation.

We now employ over 40 staff, and run 24/7, 365 days a year.

Before the end of this episode, however, host Matt had just one last question for Keith: where did the name Ferry Project come from?

Keith explained that whilst the charity had been looking for properties to set up a hostel in, they’d come across a place called the Ferry Inn. The name really struck a chord with Keith; he liked the sentiment of getting on a ferry and allowing it to take you from somewhere you didn’t want to be anymore to somewhere you did. The idea that a ferry has everything you need for the journey, and that it will support you to get where you want to go, was exactly what Keith wanted for the charity.

He wanted to create a place where people could receive support and help in order to move their lives on and get back on track. And so the Ferry Project came to be.

For the full story, listen to the podcast HERE