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The Forgotten Estate! “No-one cares about us - we’re the forgotten estate”. It was a common sentiment, often expressed. But God hadn’t forgotten and Sharon was determined to do whatever she could to see God’s love expressed in some practical way to the people of this Haringey housing estate. She found friends from other congregations with a similar heart for mission in the area, and together they began to pray and push doors to see what might happen. First Soul in the City adopted the estate as one of their summer projects in 2004, and local residents were stunned by the “no-strings attached” offers to help improve the quality of the environment. Who’d ever heard of gangs of young people roaming the streets doing good deeds! But a one-off, short-term project was inadequate, and Sharon knew it. Time to keep pushing doors! Haringey Council responded by making an empty shop unit available and Sharon and her cross-church team began to hatch plans for a community centre based in the unit. All sorts of ideas suddenly surfaced - including a day centre, youth coffee bar, support worker, English as a second language classes. A pilot event was run at Christmas and young and old alike mingled in the welcoming atmosphere of carols, mince pies and even a Santa! Funding is being found, resources released, and Sharon’s dream of God’s love being demonstrated on the “forgotten” estate are now that much closer to fulfilment.
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Community impact through Christian unity |
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Bless Haringey |
