News and Updates

We wish our wonderful school pastor co-ordinator Rebecca Kelly every blessing on her marriage to Steve Savage on October 31st.

 

Help keep us out on the streets!

Isle of Wight Street Pastors need your help.  We need to raise an extra £20,000 this year to help make our streets safer and ensure school students get the help and support they need.

We’ve been serving the community for 5 years now and have grown significantly to meet the need for our help. We have a dedicated band of volunteers and many regular supporters who help finance our work, but we need more people to give. Lots of our work in the early years was supported by seed-funding grants and government funding which is no longer available. To sustain the work of our volunteer Street and School Pastors we need to rely on the generosity of Island people, churches and businesses.

We’d love it if you could help reach our target for this year through making a one off donation, holding a fundraising event or becoming a new regular giver.  We’ll be posting more about each of those over the coming weeks and months, but if you would like to give now we can put your money straight to work making lives better in our streets and in our schools.  

Just click here to donate by credit or debit card.

Thanks for your support.

We are looking for new Street Pastors, School Pastors and Prayer Pastors to help us continue our work to transform our local communities into safer, happier places.

Download a recruitment pack for full details:

— Download Street Pastor Application Pack —

— Download School Pastor Application Pack —

— Download Prayer Pastor Application Pack —

Street and School Pastors are Christian volunteers who provide care, support and practical help to people out on the streets of our towns and in our schools.

Street Pastor teams patrol the town centres and provide help and assistance to people who are suffering the effects of over consumption of alcohol, are at risk of violence or feel unsafe, lonely, hurt or abused.

School Pastors work in and around schools to provide safety and reassurance to students, parents and local residents.  School Pastors patrol in uniform and their role is to provide support to students and a positive adult presence, deter anti-social behaviour and help all students feel part of the community.

Prayer Pastors support the volunteers out on the streets by praying for them and the situations they face.

If you want to find out more about volunteering as a Street Pastor, School Pastor or Prayer Pastor then this website is a great place to start. Have a read through some of the information about what we do and our past news stories and then download an application pack for full details of each of the volunteer roles.

Our coordinators (Rebecca for School Pastors and Denise for Street Pastors) would be delighted to chat with you about the different opportunities. We encourage people who are interested to join us on patrol as an observer to see us in action, and we can put you in touch with existing volunteers who can talk about their experience of the challenges and rewards of volunteering with us.

There’s no pressure to sign up once you’ve made enquiries, so if you’re not sure if it’s for you please get in touch. We’d much rather you knew what was involved before you make a decision.

If a volunteering role is not for you just now then you can still be part of the transformation of our communities through Street and School Pastors.  We value the prayer and support of many people, knowing you are behind us makes a real difference.  You can also become a regular donor, supporting our work financially.  Without people committing to give a regular amount each month the project would not survive.  Whether you can afford to give lots or only a little a monthly contribution will make a real difference.  You can download a regular giving form here.

Our latest newsletter is now out.  Click here to download it or contact us if you’d like a printed copy.

After four years of dedicated service as coordinator Dave Ouston decided earlier this year to hang up his Street Pastors cap and move on to new things. We’d like to thank Dave for his tireless work setting up the Street Pastors initiative on the Island and growing it to expand into Newport and Ventnor.

We were very fortunate to be able to recruit Denise Evans to take over the role of Street Pastors coordinator from August. Denise is originally from West Sussex and moved to
the Island with husband Mark when he became the minister at Newport Congregational Church.

Denise describes herself as “a little crazy, but in the good sense” and when she’s not running Street Pastors she likes to spend time acting, dancing, singing and enjoying outdoor
activities. Denise will be sharing an office with Rebecca, our School Pastors’ coordinator.

We are delighted to announce that Isle of Wight Street Pastors has been honoured as one of the recipients of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2013.  

This prestigious award has an equivalent status for voluntary groups as the MBE does for individuals.  While we don’t do the work for praise it is very much appreciated when the hard work and dedication of our volunteer teams is recognised by others.  To be one of just 117 groups across the country to receive this award is simply awesome.  Thanks so much to all those who have been on the journey with us for the last few years.

You can read more about the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service on the gov.uk website here.