What is Jigsaw?

Our call is rooted in God's heart for the lost but in particular the poor, those afflicted and those in need. We live to bring those whose lives we touch closer to the kingdom of God, to demonstrate his love and grace, to impact this world with prophetic acts of kindness and service. Jigsaw exists for this purpose and reaches out to the poor, those in need and the homeless in Matlock and the Derbyshire Dales.

Some of the things we do

1. Mentoring and Befriending.
In a world falling apart never has there been a greater need to rebuild relationships, restore trust and heal broken lives. The core of our work is about building relationships. If we want to see lives changed we must be willing to walk a journey with those that we meet, to model something different to what people see in the world, to support people through change and stand with them in difficulty.

2. Sign posting and Advice
People often struggle to get the information they need or the specialist help they require. Part of our work focuses on sign posting and referral to other agencies appropriate to the needs of the individual. It means building partnerships with others to make the help that is needed more accessible.

3. Jigsaw Café
The Jigsaw Café aims to provide a place where people can come as they are and not be judged, where people can be accepted and not rejected. It is a place to have a hot meal and a drink, chat about life, the universe and everything and it provides easy access to all the other Jigsaw Services.

Open: Wednesday 2-4pm at The Riverside, Matlock.

4. Jigsaw Food Bank
The Jigsaw Food Bank initiative provides practical help with a purpose, taking donated goods, in particular canned food, dried goods and household sundries and providing one off support to people in a variety of circumstances, including:

A. Support during a crisis with packages of food provided to people unable to provide for themselves due to loss of income, employment or benefits.

B. Support for people being rehoused but with no means of providing themselves with meals or household sundries, in the initial period of settling in their new home.

5. Jigsaw Clothes Bank
The Jigsaw Clothes Bank recycles clothing for the whole family and has regular open days where people are welcome to make an appointment to come and take their pick. A wide selection of new and, good quality, used clothing, linen and bedding is available, including an extensive baby and toddler selection. Our quality test is always “would we wear this ourselves” and if the answer is no then we recycle the goods elsewhere to aid our funding. Open days are held on a quarterly basis.

Next Open Day: Saturday 3rd December 2011 from 11am: To make an appointment email Deborah[at]churchinthepeak.org.uk.

6. Jigsaw Market Garden
Bringing up a family during the current economic crisis is not easy. Money is tight and the pressure is on to eat healthily within a limited budget. This gets harder as unemployment rises, pay is frozen and the cost of living gets higher every day.

The Jigsaw Market Garden has been set up to help families in Matlock and the surrounding areas to make some of these choices easier. We do this by providing free locally grown fruit and vegetables on a regular basis to families that would otherwise struggle.

Each week we can provide a box of produce, either fresh or frozen, that is tailored to the size of the family. We do this because of the generosity of our supporters who grow the produce and prepare it for distribution and because of a special working relationship with White Peak Farm Butchery.

The supply of food is limited so we take referrals from local organisations who are in contact with families on a regular basis. These include local schools amongst others. Once we have discussed with a family what they need each week they are guaranteed to receive it until they tell us that they no longer want the food.

At the moment transport is limited so we prefer it if families can collect the food from The Riverside at an agreed time. However, we may be able to arrange delivery in extreme circumstances.

If you would like more information on Jigsaw and other Social Action Projects, please have a look at our latest Social Action Newsletter.

You can also contact Deborah[at]churchinthepeak.org.uk or telephone 01629 814 813.

Church On The Bus

Other support for the homeless in Matlock and the surrounding areas includes the Church On The Bus. This service started a few years ago but, in 2011, Matlock received it's own bus.

You can watch a video of the official launch event on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=byRRgjoZwog. [Link opens in a new window.]

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