Opened in Sittingbourne by domestic abuse charity Sateda and Age UK. They have brought vital services together under one roof in the hopes of providing wider ranging support.
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00:00It gives me enormous pleasure to open Heather House Community Club.
00:13Heather House is not just a food bank or an affordable pay what you like cafe or a support
00:20centre for swales most vulnerable. It's in fact all three. Bringing various charities under one
00:27roof such as Domestic Abuse Support Service, Cetida and Age UK. The hope is to make it easier
00:34for those in the community to get the help they need, specialist or otherwise. Be it counselling
00:41for domestic violence, warm clothes or even just good company. If everyone's essential needs are
00:49met there's still a need for community and community is something that's really missing
00:53in this day and age. So you know yes you know in an ideal world we wouldn't be providing
01:00you know support for survivors of domestic abuse. We wouldn't be providing food banks
01:05but we still but we still need community you know with social beings so we still need a place so we
01:09can come together. So I think you know we'll carry on working to remove them dependencies but
01:16having a community is still really important. Somebody might be going to Age UK and then
01:20disclose that they're experiencing abuse or know somebody who is.
01:23We're here to take on those those women and children to support them going forward and
01:28likewise we work in domestic abuse but we don't work in community outreach services.
01:33We don't work in foot care for example where we can get somebody some help for their other
01:39personal care. So it's about working together, recognising individuals as a whole and not
01:44saying that one person can fix everything because we can't we all need to cooperate.
01:49With affordable spaces in Kent's towns becoming more and more uncommon,
01:53those at Heather House believe it will fill a vital gap in the community.
01:58It's really hard for agencies like ours to find community spaces. Family centres are closing
02:04earlier and children's centres have obviously been given a change of focus into family hubs
02:11and there's lots of organisations needing the same space so this means that we don't have to
02:17get into that debate and it opens opportunities for other people too.
02:20It may be a day of celebration but with demand for support growing,
02:25everyone here will have their work cut out for them in 2025.
02:30Oliver Leader the Saks for KMTV in Sittingbourne.