The Methodist Church Tower Hamlets
Whitechapel Mission
The Whitechapel Mission has its own excellent website maintained by the Director, Tony Miller.
See the current work - video See list of current needs - here
There are boxes in each of our churches where gifts for the Mission can be left to be taken down there.
There are services at 15.00 Sunday, live at the Mission - not every month, so check their website.
General workload increased by 25% Advice and guidance up 30%
"The Whitechapel Mission is called to serve the men and women caught in the cycles of poverty, hopelessness and dependencies of many kinds, and to see their lives transformed to hope, joy and lasting productivity.
Our Goal is to be the most effective provider of compassionate care and life transformation for hurting people in London.
We promote the concept of being part of the Mission and taking ownership of the Mission. Any and all who come are welcome. The services we offer are built upon trust and belonging. We are an inclusion centre rather than an exclusion centre."
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102, 243 meals served
Currently serving 350+ free breakfasts each day
The Mission continues its work, with the generous support of the staff.
The Mission is open for tea at 06.00, then breakfast is served from 8am each and every morning of the year and offers a large choice. A standard breakfast consists of 2 fried eggs, bacon, sausages, 2 hash browns, mushrooms, baked beans and tomatoes, served with a choice of bread or toast, and of course, tea or coffee. We also offer porridge and a choice of cereals, with other options available.
There is no charge for breakfast. In fact, there is no charge for any of our services. We do not know how many people will arrive on any given day. It may be as few as 200, or reach 600, but we feel that if there is only one person knocking on our door then we should open that door and make them welcome.
Pre the pandemic we would normally expect to cook 200-250 breakfasts on a weekday and as many as 300 at weekends.
There is no charge for clothing and individuals are not restricted in the number of visits they may make to the showers or clothing area in any week.
Mens showers are supervised by staff and this is due to the shear numbers going through the showers each day. We need to ensure that everybody gets the choice and everyone is safe.
We would normally expect to see 75-150 people to use the showers each weekday.
Sonia is on the Team - offering Advice and Guidance
Whitechapel Mission in rail initiative to tackle begging
The Mission is working with the London Overground rail network to discourage passengers from giving to people begging on the network’s walk-through trains, but instead to make a donation to the work of the mission. Posters on the stations and notices in the carriages say: “To help someone you see begging on London Overground, donate to the Whitechapel Mission. Any donations will be used carefully and your generosity will be welcomed”. The Whitechapel Mission - part of the Tower Hamlets circuit - is just minutes from Whitechapel station which serves the Overground, District and Metropolitan tube lines (and Crossrail at a future date). The mission currently provides breakfast for around 250 homeless men and women a day, together with essential advice services. Mission director Tony Miller said they had entered into discussions with London Overground because of the amount of complaints the train network had received about the high level of begging.
Whitechapel Mission Champions -
Champion the cause
Each of our churches now has a ‘Whitechapel champion’ who will act as advocate for the Whitechapel Mission in their congregations.
This is an essential task for publicising the work of the Mission
