In the spotlight…Provision House, Dudley

When I was a kid, Dudley Town Centre was a bustling place to visit. Jam-packed with a host of well-known high street shops to peruse, it was a great afternoon out for a child of the 80s like myself. A huge Woolworths with the best pick n’ mixes in town, a WH-Smith housing all of the latest Sweet Valley Twins books I could hope for, an Argos store to fulfil the requests on my Christmas/birthday toy lists and the pièce de resistance, a massive McDonalds which hosted many a birthday party for my friends and I in the late 1980s. Oh how I miss Ronald McDonald and the delicious ice-cream birthday cakes he would provide in that place!

Today, I find Dudley Town Centre an intimidating place to visit.

My Dad, with the nostalgic melancholy of a man who was born and raised there, blames the demise of Dudley’s Town Centre on the construction and expansion of the Merry Hill Shopping Centre just a few miles down the road.

There’s certainly an element of truth in his assessment, along with a number of other factors, but whatever the cause, the effects are clear to see. Dudley Town Centre’s demise is evident from the moment you walk along the high street.

A town in economic ruins. Shop after shop sitting empty, bookended by numerous charity shops, vape stores, kebab outlets and bookies.

It’s not only the high street that has been decimated over the last 30 years. During the 5- minute walk from my car to the top of the high street, I saw way too many people who looked, in the words of my beloved father, “hard up.”

Dudley is a town full of people who look old before their time, battered by the dispossession in which so many of them exist.

It is within this sea of economic decay that Provision House sits as a beacon of light; a spiritual and practical lighthouse offering protection, support and hope from the rocks of deprivation faced by so many in the borough.

Situated in the iconic 83-year old, 4-storey Blunts Department Store building adjacent to Top Church, the purpose of Provision House is summed up by its name. It is a place which provides for the needs of those in its impoverished community in a whole host of ways, motivated and fuelled by the love of Jesus.

Food and advice

The ground floor houses a huge charity shop, with all proceeds being invested back into the charity itself.

Behind the shop floor sits the Food Club; a stepping-stone between a foodbank and self-sufficiency. Visitors, referred to the Food Club from within the community or via the charity shop itself, pay £4 per week and receive around £25 worth of food and necessities which they can choose themselves. Alongside the food provided, trained staff and volunteers offer practical support and advice for the various needs its users have.

This winter, the Food Club will also house a Warm Welcome initiative, providing hot drinks and a warm place for people to come and stay during the day – a genuine need as the cost-of-living and energy crisis inevitably starts to bite as the days grow colder.

The Food Club often refers visitors to the various other departments within Provision House, from the very practical provision of furniture and clothing to families living in dire need, to providing employability training programmes and work experience for the unemployed.

Essential support

Provision House has provided essential furniture to hundreds of families over the years to help create safer and habitable homes for families who would otherwise live in dire circumstances. One such family has stuck in the memory of Amy, a Provision House employee of over 10 years.

“I remember one family that we helped a few years ago who were living in house that was so empty, they were tucking their children up to bed at night in an empty bathtub, with a towel as a blanket,” she explains.

“It was heart-breaking. But thankfully, we were able to provide them with beds for their kids, sofas to sit on and the other essentials they needed to live comfortably as a family.”

Holistic approach

The whole ethos of Provision House is built on a holistic approach to helping and supporting people living in poverty, working with a model of rehabilitation, stabilisation and progression.

Staff and volunteers are able to offer emergency support through food and furniture provision, help get people into a more stable position and then offer training and work experience opportunities to help them progress into employment or further education and beyond.

As we walk around the building, CEO Mark Price shows me a training room full of donated computers to teach IT skills, two carpentry workshops used to teach woodwork and a furniture restoration area used as a social enterprise in partnership with the Invictus Trust and Top Church.

A further floor of this famous landmark building, currently in dire need of renovation, also hold dreams of future development.

“When we moved into the building in 2019, there were just 7 members of staff who worked incredibly hard to renovate and get the first phase of the building up and running”, explains Mark as we stand on the roof of the building, overlooking the entire borough and beyond.

“We now have 15 members of staff and we’re beginning to see that God has incredible plans for the building and its role in the town, way bigger than what we originally envisioned.”

Big dreams

Those dreams go way beyond simply renovating a building to serve its visitors. As we talk, it becomes very clear that God is positioning Provision House, alongside other community projects and charities in St Thomas’ Quarter, to believe for the transformation of the entire town centre.

And why shouldn’t they believe for that?

The book of Ephesians urges us to remember that our God is able to do “immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine”.

Why not here? Why not now?

As I thank Mark for his time and walk away from Provision House after my visit, I hear the words of the prophet Isaiah running through my mind:

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”

(Isaiah 43:18-19)

Dudley may well appear to be a wasteland of a town, wallowing in the memory of what it used to be, but search beneath the rubble and we can see God doing a new thing.

He is positioning and manoeuvring His people into places and partnerships where together, He is creating a new way in the wilderness of this town.

Whilst it may only just be springing up, His people there are starting to perceive what God’s plans could be, not only for the charity but for the town.

Plans to prosper Dudley, plans to bring hope to its streets, and plans to build a future for the people of this town.

---

Provision House are always in need of furniture, clothing and food donations for the work they do. Food and clothing donations can simply be dropped off at Provision House itself. If you have furniture you no longer need or are replacing, please consider donating it to Provision House. You can visit https://www.provisionhouse.co.uk/donate/ to find out more and arrange free collection of your items.

Volunteers are also required. To find out more about volunteering at Provision House, please visit: https://www.provisionhouse.co.uk/volunteer/

Share

< Previous post  |  Next post >