Author: The Besom in Esher

Last autumn we enabled a local church, King’s Church Walton (KCW), who wanted to serve those in need in their community by providing them with a garden clearance project for a single parent family.

• 

• 

Over the past 10 months it has been good to see that so many have realised we can alleviate needs around us with small acts of kindness.  For some this has been through the Besom Network. 

What do you do with compassion when God stirs up a desire to do something more?  

….Pray before you act

KCW have supported the work of Besom practically as well as prayerfully for some time gradually becoming more familiar with our way of doing things.  They are keen to be a benefit to the communities they are a part of and have prayed particularly about their response.  Besom was ready to support them in the next stage of their journey. 

….Listen for His response and test your thinking

Coming face to face with need, a group from KCW approached us after the project completed.  Arising from conversations with the Mum and learning about the struggles she faced in caring for her family, the idea grew of providing fresh fruit and vegetables to supplement the dried/tinned goods she gratefully received from the local Foodbank.  This would provide variety in their diet and make dinners more enticing for the children.  Perhaps there were other families who could also benefit?  They explored with Besom whether this could be another project, so we asked our social workers whether their clients would welcome this and agreed how we would maintain confidentiality.  Meanwhile, KCW approached Foodbank with their suggestions.

….Go on a journey of faith 

After much prayer, KCW believed God was leading them to start a small 5 week pilot scheme to bring Fresh Food Bags to those struggling with debt.  Besom ran an induction meeting (over Zoom) to brief the group participants. This included safeguarding, Covid-safety, logistics and guidance on how to speak appropriately with recipients.

Liaising with a local greengrocer, ourselves and the Walton and Hersham Foodbank, they funded and packed attractive bags of produce each Monday morning, prayed for the bags and our recipients. Then headed out to make contactless doorstep deliveries in pairs, listening to how they were keeping and offering encouragement.  Further bags were dropped at the foodbank for their clients

• 

• 

• 

As a final flourish, in the last week, they bought and gave beautiful Christmas Hampers!  Now they are considering how to develop the scheme in 2021.

Some reflections from the KCW team:-

“I think that the pilot is a great start to the conversation about how King’s can form connections and friendships with the neighbours in our community. I am also grateful for the guidance and direction of Besom, so that we learn how to work with vulnerable people”

 “I think it’s been a great scheme: brought joy & a feeling of support to the lives of those who are struggling financially & emotionally.”

 “Praying together for the bags and recipients has been a highlight.”

and a lovely response from one of the Food Bag recipients (for whom we also urgently purchased a replacement cooker in time for Christmas):-

”Hi, OMG, Cooker delivered its fantastic, thank you The Besom in Esher for making all these good things happen and your hard work organising everything… I realise the world has been turned on its head and life is on hold for some time.  Thanks again truly everything you have done was the lift I needed to push on with my life… never too old.  Christmas Greetings.  Jackie”  (*name changed to protect identity)

Final Thoughts

We’re really excited about the relationship with King’s Church – facilitating individual and group giving when we are approached is what we are all about!  We can see God at work within a fellowship who have committed to serve their community and asked Him for inspiration and creative ideas.  We loved supporting them in understanding what He is calling them to do for his Kingdom.  

Please contact us if you or your Church have an idea of what God may be inviting you to do as we would love to pray and enable you to accomplish it.

We may be in lockdown, but the Besom has not changed.  We can still be a bridge between those who want to give and those who are in great need, it’s just the landscape that is changing rapidly beyond recognition.  Last week we have done 2 runs rather than just our Thursday run.  We have actually been busier than usual. 

Last week, the probation service referred a man (already self-isolating) who was moving into a unfurnished flat in Thames Ditton with just a camp bed and a little crockery.  Facing lockdown with financial hardship, severe health problems placing him in the extreme at risk category, we decided this was ‘essential travel to care for the vulnerable’.  We had a lot of items he needed, particularly a bed and sofa, and would buy the items he didn’t have such as a microwave and bedlinens.

This time, a visit to a young man who’d moved into a new neighbourhood last week, again with financial hardship, and in mental health recovery.  With the lockdown, he was now away from his family support network, sleeping on a sofa, with no white goods, tv or means to cook.  We were able to give him a microwave, kitchen starter pack, TV and joy of joys a dvd player.  He was so delighted with the dvd player as it meant he would be able to use the TV (even without a tv licence or amazon fire-stick)!  We were able to pray a blessing over his new home and for his new start at the doorstep.

Besom core team and trustees are praying that we can respond locally as God directs because new opportunities are opening up for us to work alongside Foodbank, Elmbridge Borough Council and Central Surrey Community Action in a coordinated response to the escalating needs of the vulnerable, poor, elderly, and the at risk / extreme risk categories of those with underlying health needs. 

At the national Besom level, we have been considering that the pandemic is changing the landscape, bringing tragic outcomes to many individuals and families who were already struggling on the fringes of our community.    Social care will not stop in a lockdown and so whilst we can assist social worker referrals appropriately when safe and practical to do so in the next 12 weeks, (with those who come to us to offering their time etc) the Besom is not just in a 12-week sprint but a marathon that we start preparing for.  Many Besoms have had to close with elderly core-team members at risk themselves, or with the shutting of their Besom premises, simply not set up to operate teams and logistics in a ‘virtual’ online setting.  They are settling themselves to rest, to pray and seek the Lord and await the time when they can open again.  Besom in Esher on the other hand has always been ‘virtual’ so we have not had to adapt the way we operate to cope with working from our homes.

What can I do?

• Please remember us (Annie, Chris, Gareth, Richard (core team) Tony, Sammy and Daphne (van team time-givers) in your prayers – we want to keep in step with the Lord and be wise to opportunities but true to our vision and values.  For protection for our health and those we help.

• If you are not in self-isolation or quarantine, and do not meet the criteria of being at risk / or extreme risk, maybe you can be a part of a ‘faith response’ and give your time, money or skills through us?  As church members, many of you already could be DBS checked or have an Enhanced DBS check; this would be brilliant in terms of re-deploying Besom activity alongside the council .  The government/NHS is looking for volunteers – you can check out their Good Sam app of course, but we are already called to be Good Samaritans and with our church buildings closed, maybe Jesus is calling his bride to come out onto the streets! 

• Stay in touch via our webpage or Facebook, to see what role Besom will be asked to undertake alongside EBC, and consider whether you can be part of our ‘faith response’ as Good Samaritans.

We received some lovely feedback from one of our referring agencies who said “Besom Team, you are fantastic, without you I don’t know what we and our patients would do!”

With the generosity of our Givers we had been able to provide replacement washing machine and microwave for one of their clients, a gentleman requiring support for mental health issues. Our amazing Time Givers on the van had also moved the old items outdoors for waste collection because the client was unable to, as well as connecting the new Washing Machine. Thank you to everyone who gives Time, Money or Things through The Besom and thanks for the encouragement from the referrer!

Fantastic painting project completed this week by a team of Time Givers. They painted the living room for a disabled gentleman who’s family live overseas and needed help to decorate.

Oswald Chambers, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater works. It is the greater work”.

Monday morning prayer two weeks ago, we decided to pray earnestly once more for many of our clients who have need of beds (all sizes!). Many have been waiting since before Christmas and we felt the need for God to shift things in the heavenlies so that some would be donated to us. A day later I responded to a vague email offering us furniture with a tight time frame for collection. Three bedrooms worth of furniture from a single to a super-king.  We are so thrilled by the expat family’s generosity. Every item matched perfectly with our client’s requirements (even the super-king).  We also had donated bunk beds for our Syrian refugee family that we have been supporting. Our van team have had a lot of lifting to do. Another double bed donated this week and our bed list has been completely cleared.  At Besom, we have been beautifully reminded how important our core value of prayer – the greater work – has brought all things together in perfect time to bless all concerned, i.e. those who gave, those who prayed, those who delivered and the recipients who are sleeping comfortably.

We are excited to have received our first referral of the year to provide goods for a Syrian Refugee family. Please pray for us as we seek to assess their needs and meet with them today. We have had so much news about the plight of our refugees this past year; it is good to be able to welcome and show kindness to our new neighbours.

A great two days of delivering hampers to our many clients. Lots of happy, excited and thankful responses and good conversations between them and our teams of “elves”. Praise God for all the love and generosity shown.  One more morning to go!

The first few hampers are arriving for our clients. Thanks to our givers for responding with generosity and allowing us the opportunity to make return visits with an expression of God’s love and care this festive season. Many of our clients this year are affected by mental illness and live alone, or are single mums who have escaped from domestic abuse. For them it is possibly not the most wonderful time of the year, but we pray that they will know hope and encouragement as our time-givers visit them with these beautiful gifts. We are so excited by the potential of this project.

Imagine a Christmas without presents, decorations, or lovely food, this is a reality for many local people today. You can make a difference and bring a bit of sparkle into homes that have so little. Again this Christmas The Besom in Esher will deliver Hampers to families and individuals in the Elmbridge and Chessington area that we have helped over the past year.

To find out how your church group can make a Christmas hamper to give through The Besom please get in touch with us by email at hampers@besominesher.com. We will give you all the instructions on how to make them, what to include and how you can come out on The Besom Van and help deliver the hampers during December. (All Hampers to be completed by 23rd Nov.)

We are so excited to have collected our new (second-hand) van! Please join us in thanking  God for those who have given us the money to buy this van, replacing our last one which was written off after being vandalised. It’s great to be back on the road and our new van is ideal. It starts first time, has no dents (yet), drives really well and even has a CD player – there’s never been a better time to come out on a van run with us! We have a backlog of things to collect and deliver. Please also pray for protection for the new van and that God will bless every journey it makes and release more Time Givers to come out on van runs.