Lantern Trust and Adrian

17 July 2021 By ian

At the start of the year I did some voluntary work for the Lantern Trust, a charity that helps vulnerable and marginalized people in the Weymouth & Portland. I helped out (a tiny little bit) with their Safe Sleep project, which provides overnight accommodation for people who have been rough sleeping. These are the people it’s easy to walk by without noticing, or to notice and take a detour to avoid; and, of course, they all know that’s what people do, day after day. It’s obvious, even though I sometimes forget it too, but every single person in Safe Sleep had a story to tell, had their own personal dignity, and were desperate to be in a better situation.

I started thinking about what I could do that might make some kind of difference and I decided that I could draw some portraits, portraits that would show some of the people the Lantern Trust work with as people just like you and me, people with dignity and with stories to tell. Adrian’s is the first of these portraits and it’s now hanging in the entrance hall at the Lantern Trust. Adrian has his own copy.

Adrian. Graphite pencil on paper, A3

Below I’ve quoted what the Lantern Trust have to say about what they do, along with some words from Adrian. They are currently running their summer fundraising campaign so, if you’re able to, it would be wonderful if you could give them a donation.

Mike Graham, CEO of the Lantern Trust:

Our customers remain central to all that we do. We believe that support should be something that we are all able to access when we need it most.

People’s journeys through our service can be very humbling to see the barriers they have overcome. With this in mind we were approached by a local artist to draw some of our customers to see the person behind the story.

We named the project “The People Of The Lantern”. Ian the artist involved in the project met one of the customers today to show him his picture.

Adrian arrived at the Lantern having been made homeless and we placed him in our Safe Sleep project. He grew in confidence and so did his self esteem. We then moved him to Dorset Councils Hardy House Hostel where we have a member of Support Staff. Adrian has continued to grow in confidence and has been assisting the staff doing gardening around the hostel and is part of our Tumbledown Farm project.

Adrian’s words were as follows:-

“I never had anyone show me understanding or compassion. Natalie (Lantern Support Worker) is so patient and believes in me. I am happy for the first time in as long as I can remember. I have hope.”

Me, Adrian and Natalie