Tanya's Story

HARP's Floating Support resident, Tanya has been volunteering at Storehouse for two and a half years. Having been supported through HARP's emergency housing she is now looking forward to an independent future. She has been very excited to show off her hard work to her keyworker Josie, who has invited me along to see what Tanya has been up to.

If you haven’t been along yourself, Storehouse is a vibrant café, foodbank and support hub based in the heart of Southend’s Queensway estate. When I arrive, the place is full of noise with people enjoying breakfast and meeting up with friends. Tanya’s corner is as busy, if not busier than the rest of the hub as people browse her stock and get her opinion on size and fit. Tanya takes it all in her stride as we talk and she continues to banter with regulars and make sales.

“I was going through a really, really bad patch in my life, really bad. In a rut.” Says Tanya. “A friend of mine suggested that I come and volunteer to get me out, and I’ve been here ever since and I absolutely love it.

I started off in the food bank area and so this shop is kind of a new venture and it’s mine. I don’t have to answer to anyone, I do what I want, Marie [Storehouse manager] is really good like that," Tanya tells me.

“My shop started off with just one rail of clothes. It was out in the hallway, it was kind of just a free for all, people would just help themselves. Then it just kind of progressed. Storehouse is run by The Vineyard. They had a charity shop that closed down, so we got all their donations and fittings from that shop. More people were bringing in donations, all the time, so it just grew. So that shop shut and it kind of just moved to here,” enthuses Tanya.

“As it grows, we are thinking about opening it once a month for the public as a charity shop. It all raises funds for the café; cheese, coffee, sugar, all the things that aren’t donated that they would have to go out and buy, the money comes from my shop.”

After 3 months of running the shop where attendees could simply take the items they need, Tanya had to tell them it was time to start paying.

"We were worried charging as people had been getting it for free. But most people have taken to it so well. Sometime people look but don't buy but still donate some spare change to my piggy bank. The thing is, you can’t just walk into a charity shop and get free clothes, can you! There was one cheeky lady who bought a really nice M&S dress for £1 but still complained it was expensive - you can't please everyone though can you! "

“It actually keeps me sane; I know that sounds really ridiculous but, it does. About 8 years ago one of my daughters died and my whole life actually went down the toilet. I could not function I was trying to hold everything together for my other daughter and my son. But I couldn’t function. I lost my home, I lost my dog, it wasn’t important in comparison to loosing my daughter. I was really in a bad, bad way. I will never forget my daughter but, this keeps me busy, I’ve made some wonderful friends, I mean, really good friends that I see outside of Storehouse. I just love getting up and having something to do. I live in a HARP property but I don’t really like just sitting around doing nothing. It gives me three or four days a week where I get up, I come here, I really enjoy it, I go home in a good mood because I have been laughing with all the staff, volunteers and service users. It’s just good for me.” she says.

”Because I am in a HARP property Josie is my keyworker. When I first became homeless I moved in to White Heather House and Josie worked there at the time. When Josie changed her role and came to where I live now, I kind of knew her all ready. Josie is lovely. When we get together, we go to Starbucks or the Ironworks, we have a good old chat. I will be forever grateful to HARP. I have my little room, it’s funky but I think I really need to move on, it’s time now for my own space.”

“Tanya has been so excited about showing me her shop at Storehouse. She has been doing really well setting up the shop, which is really lovely to see the difference between when I first met her to now. In the Floating Support service we look at next steps for people to have a life away from HARP and that is what we are looking at for Tanya, she is getting ready to live independently” says keyworker Josie.

“My son and my daughter are now doing really well, my life is all coming together at last and I will never forget my daughter. Ideally I would love to become a member of staff at Storehouse, as I’ve put in the effort and built this area up, we’ll have to see. When I move on, obviously I will need a job to support that, so I have my experience from here and there are quite a few charity shops out there in Southend.”