Hardship and hope: how groups & churches make a difference in Sheffield

Bob Rae from Sheffield Church Action on Poverty reports on their 2026 Urban Poverty Pilgrimage

Supporters of Church Action on Poverty from Sheffield have visited a series of initiatives designed to alleviate poverty in the Highfield and Heeley districts of the city as part of their annual Urban Poverty Pilgrimage.

Twenty people took part in the Pilgrimage, which aims to raise awareness and understanding of how poverty is affecting different areas of Sheffield and how churches and voluntary organisations are responding.

This year’s Pilgrimage started at Highfield Trinity Methodist Church and ended at St Wilfrid’s day centre for homeless, vulnerable or socially excluded adults which is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its founding by the Catholic Church.

In between, Pilgrim’s took in Heeley Parish Church, Heeley City Farm, The Samaritans’ Sheffield headquarters and the St Vincent de Paul Furniture Store.

Pilgrims heard how Highfield Trinity Church hosts the Hope of Glory Church, the ShipShape Wellbeing Hub and Joybank, an organisation that collects pre-owned and donated toys, games and books and distributes them to families in financial hardship

Hope of Glory Church members fled war in Liberia, sought sanctuary in Sheffield around 20 years ago and are now contributing to Sheffield as doctors, nurses, teachers and lecturers in addition to providing support for families still in Liberia

ShipShape operates a free well-being service offering advice, support and motivation to bring positive health to local people. It is also involved in a Food Bank and facilitates face-to-face contact between local people and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Joybank says more than one in four children in the north live in ‘toy poverty,’ lacking things to play with that would aid their development and future achievements, while many children in better off homes have an average of four toys they have never played with, many of which would end up in landfill sites, but for its efforts to collect and redistribute them.

Heeley Parish Church is in a mixed and diverse community with pockets of deprivation.

Pilgrims heard about the activities of the Heeley Community Tenants And Residents Association, which is working with a local charity to alleviate the effects of poverty and the rising costs of living.

One of Heeley Parish Church’s sister churches operates a food pantry and is facing substantially increased demand for its services. The church also has links with a Community Interest Company called Uni Recycle, which recycles school uniforms, providing them to families in need.

In addition to being a visitor attraction, nearby Heeley City Farm provides services designed to promote inclusion, alleviate poverty and boost employability. These include supported placements for adults with varying learning disabilities, an employability service for young and long term unemployed people, adaptable, hands-on learning provision for primary and secondary school pupils who are struggling with school, activities for people suffering from dementia and volunteering and training opportunities.

At the Samaritans headquarters, pilgrims heard how mounting poverty and other pressures were increasing the need for new volunteers to provide sympathetic ears for people facing challenges that are pushing them towards suicide.

The neighbouring St Vincent de Paul Furniture Store receives donations of furniture and helps more than 3,000 people a year by making more than 1,400 deliveries comprising over 8,750 items of furniture, including nearly 1,300 beds, over 560 sofas and armchairs and nearly 670 chests of drawers.

The store also runs Vinnie’s Value Food Pantry, which supplies heavily discounted food products, clothing, toiletries and small household cooking items.

This year’s pilgrimage concluded at St Wilfrid’s Centre, the day centre for homeless, vulnerable or socially excluded adults, which is developing strategies to enable it to cope with increasing demand from clients, 63 per cent of whom come from the most deprived parts of the Sheffield area and 61 per cent of whom are suffering social isolation. The number of young people using its services is increasing, as is the number of rough sleepers.

With winter approaching it is planning to create a ‘Pop-up Night Shelter’. Longer term, the centre is looking to develop an accommodation and assessment centre for rough sleepers which would create tailored ways to help them get off the streets.

This year’s Sheffield Urban Poverty Pilgrimage ended by hearing from Sheffield Central MP and member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ending Homelessness, Abtisam Mohamed.

She stressed how easy it was for people struggling financially to drop off the cliff edge into homelessness and how much more needed to be done to provide local authorities with funding to tackle increasing homelessness.

Abtisam Mohamed said there was a need to develop preventative measures to stop people getting into the position where they lost their home and more support, including funding, was needed to boost the role that the voluntary sector could play in helping to deal with problems surrounding homelessness.

Sheffield’s Church Action on Poverty Group were pleased to be able to make £100 donations to Heeley City Farm and to St Wilfrid’s Centre, in recognition of all that they are doing to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable and isolated adults living in the city.