“Everyone deserves joy” - The Edinburgh community Centre open for food, films and silent disco this Christmas

As many enjoy the shared glow of a warm home, laughter and an ample offering of food and drink, there are almost 32,000 homeless people in Scotland whose Christmas joy will be far harder to come by.

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Many Scottish charities work tirelessly to help fill the painful voids that homelessness opens up, including Simon Community Scotland, which provides safe places and support for those without a place, or at risk of losing a place, they can make their own.

This year, the charity’s street support team have joined forces with Southside Community Centre in Edinburgh to open for Christmas Day for those experiencing homelessness and isolation.

“ We're looking at creating a warm and welcoming space on Christmas Day for people experiencing homelessness and isolation”, said Hannah Robertson-Newman, service Lead of the Edinburgh Street Team of the Simon Community .

“We want to provide food for people, but also a sense of belonging and a sense of joy,” she added.

As well as a hot meal, there will be a Christmas films room and a silent disco available for those wanting to take part. The team also want to move away from the traditional notion of a soup kitchen.

Ms Robertson-Newman explained: “ That's not how we want to approach Christmas this year. I think that when we look at soup kitchens, we're looking at othering people. This is about welcoming people in. This is about showing people that they deserve a Christmas meal, they deserve a Christmas present.

“They deserve all the festive trimmings that everyone else expects and maybe takes for granted. We talked a lot about how we're going to make this special, make it feel like an event at Christmas Day for the people we work with. We talked about how important it's to make sure the Christmas dinner is right.

“We're going to have a proper Christmas dinner. This isn't gonna be servings of soup. This isn't going to be things that are less than. This is something that's going to be really good for people and we’ll make sure that we have things like a dessert, like a sweet treat. Just trying to make people feel special and like they're deserving of it.

“ Instead of trying to focus on the firefighting and focusing on the survival, we want to try and focus on the joy that we can bring. Everyone deserves joy at Christmas.”

While the community centre put on Christmas events in the past, Ms Robertson-Newman said that, like a lot of other places that had been open for Christmas, the seasonal offerings had wound down since Covid.

She added: “ The name of it is Communities at Christmas, and community is the most important word that we have there. It's about creating a sense of belonging for people that often feel isolated and often feel like they're not involved or they're not welcome at the Christmas table.”

The Southside Community Centre already offers support and a warm space as well as being home to drama, community and cultural gatherings in the main hall.

Michael Traill, Chief Executive of the Southside Community Centre Association, said: : “We're doing more and more around supporting people to deal with loneliness and isolation and also around challenging poverty. Lots of that involves bringing people together in the centre in our coffee space (Goodies), which we're really looking forward to seeing really full with Christmas dinners on Christmas Day, which is a really nice thing to be happening.

“We see people from a full spectrum of life circumstances, and we're really looking forward to seeing lots of those people on Christmas Day as well.

“ The building would've been sitting empty and closed on Christmas day this year. And actually, community buildings and community centres should be open when communities need them. Christmas can be a really difficult time for people for varying reasons so to get the chance to be able to open the doors and welcome people into the building at a time where they really need us is really important to the building, and it's really important to me personally as well as a professional working with the community.”

Thomas Elsner, a member of the Edinburgh Street Team, said he was spreading the word about the Christmas Day gathering .

He added: “ Whilst I'm out and about on the street, I will be drawing awareness to it by promoting it and letting people there know that this year at the Southside Community Centre, with our partners, Simon Community Scotland will be hosting an event which will be open to people who are experiencing homelessness, but also those who are experiencing isolation.”

At the Southside Community Centre next week, the true spirit of Christmas may well be found.

If you are worried about someone who is rough sleeping please visit ⁠simonscotland.org⁠ there's also a number you can call for people in Edinburgh, it's 08081782323.

You can find out more about the event here and donate here.

For more information on supporting someone experiencing homelessness visit: ⁠https://www.simonscotland.org⁠

This article first appeared on The Scotsman’s Scran food and drink podcast. Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts from .