AS OFFICE parties around the county celebrated Christmas last Friday, rough sleepers around Chelmsford queued up for a hot meal and a bed for the night.
CHESS, which has around 27 beds in various houses around the city, runs its rough sleepers' shelter throughout the year.
But it always sees an increase in winter as the city's homeless are put at serious risk by the cold weather.
Jacqui Parker, client support senior manager for CHESS, explained that the George Street charity will be opening a winter project from January 2, providing extra beds for six people as the cold weather worsens, as well as serving food tomorrow (Christmas Day).
She said: "We work on a referral system, but with the winter shelter we give priority to the street homeless. The winter project runs until March, depending on the weather.
"Unfortunately, for the main beds, we do have a long waiting list, but it's not just for one night that they stay. If they come into CHESS, they can actually stay for two years.
"Even if they aren't staying here, people can have a shower and wash their clothes."
The charity has previously received money from the Surviving Winter Appeal, run by the Essex Community Foundation in conjunction with the Essex Chronicle.
Adding his support for the Surviving Winter fund, the Bishop of Chelmsford, The Right Revd Stephen Cottrell, said: "For many elderly and vulnerable people, winter time brings significant challenges.
"They try to keep warm, balance costs and maintain human contact. The Surviving Winter Appeal recognises such challenges and is there to help.
"It urges us all to consider how we might help prevent elderly and vulnerable people dying through a cause linked to the cold. The appeal enables us to work together in a variety of ways and I would urge people to give their support.
And donations enable the charity to ensure that they can provide food, shelter, and other necessities such as sleeping bags, tents, bedding and clothes, to those who need them most.
Jacqui added: "We give them whatever they need through the night."
But as well as the valuable contributions made by the Essex Community Foundation, CHESS business support manager Barbara Buxton said what they are in desperate need of is more volunteers. "We need two volunteers every day, every night, 365 days a year. We get a lot of offers to help out around Christmas, but we are here all year round, although of course we are very grateful to people who want to volunteer to give up their time at this time of year," she explained.
"Christmas raises awareness for the homeless, because of the cold weather and loneliness, it triggers something in a lot of people, and reminds people about the homeless – especially if they have been there themselves."
Volunteers such as Jane Shelley, who has been involved with the charity for around 15 years, felt the shelter makes a real difference to the lives of homeless people in Chelmsford.
"I just felt I wanted to do something for other people, and a church I went to several years ago got involved in a winter project in one of their church halls, and I then realised there was a shelter here," she said. "I have been doing this for more than 15 years now, some months I will do it weekly, some fortnightly.
"I think it makes a real difference to people. For some people it just helps them to not slide any more down the ladder and almost stop still and then start to move forward. We have seen some real success stories."
As well as help from volunteers and the Surviving Winter Appeal, CHESS this year received a sack of Christmas presents from the Braintree Christmas Present Appeal. "We originally collected presents for elderly people as a good way to establish contact between the parish council and older people who may have been vulnerable," explained Nathan Rowland from Braintree District Council, volunteer for the present appeal.
"But we went from 600 presents last year to 1,300 this year, so we wanted to share them with night shelters in the area too."
