URGENT call for volunteers to help open winter night shelter

We are urgently calling for volunteers to help run our Winter Night Shelter, which will reopen in January 2026 to provide life-saving warmth and safety for people sleeping rough across south Buckinghamshire.

After successfully reopening the shelter in 2025 following a four-year, pandemic-related pause, we will once again offer a warm welcome and vital support to people who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets.

Homelessness and rough sleeping in Buckinghamshire are rising once more, and with winter setting in, the need for safe, welcoming shelter is more urgent than ever. Our Winter Night Shelter fills a critical gap for those who fall outside formal local authority help.

As we often say, Wycombe Homeless Connection offers hope and help to people who would have no other option but to sleep on the streets during winter.

We work with people who come to us directly, who are referred by other services, or whom we meet in our outreach work—often thanks to members of the public letting us know about someone they’re worried about.

Last year, almost every guest we helped didn’t have to return to the street at the end of their stay. Our goal is that no one should be rough sleeping across the whole winter.

Thanks to the generosity of our community, we were also able to offer practical support and B&B accommodation in December and over Christmas. Our Christmas appeal is live now, and people’s gifts will help make this life-saving support possible again this winter.

The night shelter is hosted at seven church venues in and around High Wycombe town centre. We need more than 350 volunteers to set up beds, provide meals, and create a welcoming space for rest and companionship. Guests have access to laundry facilities, showers, a hot evening meal, breakfast, and a safe, restful environment. Our specialist team and trained volunteers work one-to-one with guests to help them find more secure homes so they don’t have to return to the street.

Training for volunteers is underway, but we urgently need many more. We’re looking for people who can give a few evenings, nights, or mornings two or three times a month during January, February, and March 2026. Volunteers must be over 18, and registration is open now.

For more information follow to give to our Christmas Appeal, or to volunteer at the Winter Night Shelter and help bring hope and a safe tomorrow to someone with nowhere else to turn this winter,