lighthouse

It's Friday which is the busiest day of the week in the Lighthouse, and we are facing the day, one staff member short. We have a committed but very small volunteer group (amazingly small for the size of Hilton Church!) and we also have regular support from Youth Inclusive and the other staff workers within the church. The level of activity within the cafe has now reached a level where we will require to employ another member of staff, as we face a meltdown situation in the near future without this addition. It's a good problem to have in terms of the cafe, but one which is not entirely comfortable to live through in terms of the pressure it creates. We have tried extremely hard over 2 years now to increase our volunteer base during the day without much in the way of success. I think we are coming to the realisation, however reluctantly, that the Lighthouse requires more staff at its core with the support of volunteers. This kind of strategy involves a very careful balancing act when we we are trying to maintain a high quality affordable facility for the local community while at the same time raising enough income to support more staff. These are some of the challenges of running a facility like the Lighthouse in the current situation.