EndnotE
The Christmas Day event for our
service users and volunteers is to
help support them through an
emotionally difficult time of year,
with a full Christmas dinner served
to 50 or more individuals.
THIS CHRISTMAS DAY
will see the fifth Bubic Christmas dinner for our service users.
Previous years’ events have been a huge success and provided a welcome and warm
environment with a great community atmosphere.
Bubic (Bringing Unity Back Into the Community) is an award winning community-
based organisation that provides support for drug users, ex-drug users, their families
and friends. Our strength lies in our approach. We work in and around communities
encouraging peer mentors to give those who are using drugs practical advice and
emotional support to help change their lifestyle and learn life skills.
The Christmas Day event for our service users and volunteers is to help support them
through an emotionally difficult time of year, with a full Christmas dinner served to 50
or more individuals. ‘It’s a worthwhile, charitable and peaceful event says Derwyn, a
Bubic volunteer mentor and ex-service-user. ‘I enjoyed being a part of last year’s
festivities and am eagerly anticipating this year’s event.’
In true Bubic style, the event is a community initiative and is only possible through
the donation of people’s time and effort. A big thank you to organisations from within
the community, including local Sainsbury’s stores in Tottenham, who support Bubic
through providing donations. Haringey Mencap not only donate the use of their
beautiful Grade II listed building but also assist, alongside Bubic’s staff and volunteers,
in setting up for the event on Christmas Eve and provide transportation for our service
users on Christmas Day.
John, a Haringey Recovery Service user, volunteered on Christmas Day last year. ‘I was
struck by the diversity of the group, from single men like me to single women and
couples, from the elderly to families, people with young children and babies, to people
whom society has chosen to forget,’ he told
The Worm
magazine (featured in
DDN
,
November, page 10).
Bubic prides itself on providing a platform from which members of our community
can raise themselves up and aspire to greater things. Those who have previously
encountered negative responses due to past behaviour and criminal records are given
opportunity, and through proving their skills and abilities with Bubic, move onwards and
upwards. Mark Nash, now a successful programme manager both in prison and the
community, says, ‘Coming through Bubic gave me a platform. If there was no Bubic there
would be no-one to assist those coming out of prison.’
With Bubic gaining centre recognition from Gateway Qualifications, followed by
direct claims status in 2015, we are now able to further build on this platform by
providing relevant, recognised, bite-size qualifications that are achievable within a
matter of weeks. These qualifications centre on increasing your confidence and self-
awareness, learning new skills and enhancing existing knowledge with the goal of
helping others within your community. They embody what Bubic is about and provide a
recognised next step in the recovery process for our service users, as well as an
opportunity for others to educate themselves and give back to their community.
We’re also planning to further expand our outreach programme, which is essential to
our organisation as it enables us to connect with the hard-to-reach clients; we bring the
service to them. Our client Dodger recalls, ‘Bubic have engaged me in the snow, when it
was cold. They’ve come into crack houses and given me food and supported me in the
early hours of the morning.’
We go where others fear to tread!
Contact Bubic at
or 020 8808 6550 for further details about services
– or if you are a service user in Haringey and would like to join them for Christmas dinner
FEstivE
Lindsay Oliver
tells us how Bubic are
preparing to throw open their doors for
Christmas dinner In their usual inclusive spirit
20 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| December 2015
CHEER
