Catching Lives Latest News: January 2026

Jan 30
3 min read

Community fundraisers for Catching Lives

This is your January update from Catching Lives. It's been a cold, damp month for people sleeping rough, making support from our community more important than ever to help us keep our doors open 7 days a week.

This month we are inviting our community to take on a new challenge to help ensure that we can continue to support those in need of a safe, warm place. Small charities like ours can only keep delivering our services with support from our community.

Whether it's a physical challenge, a quiz night or a bake sale in your office, there are so many ways you can get involved to raise money for Catching Lives, and make a difference.

We've raised £18,108 on the Catching Lives Winter Appeal. Can you take on a challenge and help us to reach £20,000?

How will you help?

Public giving from individuals and the community makes up 36% of our annual income. That's enough to fund our charity for 4.5 months of the year.

From sponsored physical challenges, to workplace fundraisers and school activities - every little helps us to provide essential services and support for people experiencing homelessness in our community. However you choose to get involved, you'll be making a difference.

If you're planning something, or would like ideas of how you can help, we'd love to hear from you and support your efforts! Contact our Fundraising Officer, Georgia, for support.

To read more about how to get involved, and gain some inspiration from previous fundraisers, click here.

Take on the Kent Charity Trek for Catching Lives

Team Catching Lives at the Kent Charity Trek in 2025 (Phil, Jerry, Georgia and Tasmin)

The Kent Charity Trek is back for 2026! The Trek, organised by Kent Search & Rescue, is a challenge event set up to raise money for Kent-based charities including Catching Lives. Last year, our team braved the 25km and raised £588 to support people experiencing homelessness.

If you're up for the challenge on Saturday 16th May, trekkers can choose a distance of 25km or 50km through the Kent countryside, with the option to start in Fort Amherst (Chatham) or Whitehorse Country Park (Maidstone).

The Trek is a brilliant opportunity to raise money for Catching Lives while experiencing the best of the Kentish scenery. You can do it solo or take on the challenge as a team with friends, family or colleagues.

It's a fantastic way to take on a physical but rewarding challenge, all while supporting a local charity. If 2026 is the year you want to spend more time in nature, get more steps in, or take on more meaningful activity for a cause you care about, the Kent Charity Trek could be for you.

You can find out more and sign up for the Trek here.

Creative Literacy project

Thanks to funding from the Lawson Trust, we have been delivering a series of creative literacy workshops. These included text-based printmaking, creative writing and word-based cyanotype.

Workshops have taken place at our centre and at Rock Paper Scissors in Canterbury. Miriam, our Arts & Activities Coordinator, said "using words creatively can help break down barriers to learning". One of the workshop attendees said the creative writing sessions "took me out of the place I find myself and made me forget the crap I have to deal with".

You can read more about the project and its achievements here.

We're hiring!

Our wonderful colleague Rosie is moving on to new adventures, so we are recruiting a new Volunteer & Kitchen Coordinator. This is a crucial role at Catching Lives, recruiting and supporting our team of volunteers, and managing food ordering and weekly budgets. To find out more and how to apply, click here.

Meet Outreach Nurse Theresa

Outreach Nurse Theresa Tester in Catching Lives medical room

Theresa has been working as an outreach nurse for 3 years, attending Catching Lives weekly for most of that time, supporting people who are experiencing homelessness to access healthcare.

For many people sleeping rough and insecurely housed, accessing mainstream health services can be a struggle. Theresa works with people to build trust and engagement with services, supporting people to attend appointments and advocating for their access to appropriate mental and physical healthcare.

Find out more about what Theresa does, and how she supports our clients here.