Women at the Well

Rice Bowl Project: Lenten Season, 2022

Churches Together in Rome

Each year the Churches and organizations that form the Churches Together in Rome join forces in supporting a charitable project during the season of Lent. This year the project focuses on Women at the Well, a UK based charity offering a variety of services to vulnerable women who are caught in multiple cycles of abuse and social exclusion. The organization envisions a society in which all women are empowered to achieve their full potential free from discrimination, abuse and neglect.

Women at the Well runs a drop-in center with nutritious lunch options, alongside other basic needs such as shower and laundry facilities, weather appropriate clothes and toiletries. Support workers offer their assistance and advocate for the women on a range of issues including; housing and benefits, legal issues, immigration, problematic issues with drugs and alcohol. The organisation also offers a range of holistic therapies.

One of the women, Cindy, tells us

Where I was 4 years ago to where I am now: I was sticking needles in my arm 4 years ago, I was lying on a bus and waking up on the floor with people just stepping over me. Now it’s like looking over at a different person. I’m this side of the table now, I make my own decisions. A few years ago I couldn’t say no, but now I can. And my confidence is coming back. I didn’t have any confidence a few years ago. It was kicked out of me, knocked out of me through the domestic violence and everything.

I came here when I was low, I was in a horrible place, I’d lost my kids and I’d lost myself. I think if I hadn’t found here I wouldn’t have got them back. If it wasn’t for here I don’t know where I would have been today.

For more information on the programs offered and the stories of some of the women who have been helped, please visit their website.

Donations can be made online through St. Paul’s by using our Tithe.ly account (choose ‘Rice Bowl Project 2022’) or by using one of the gift envelopes in the church and placing it in the Offerings plate. Alternatively you can donate directly through their website (in this case please tell them your donation is part of the Rice Bowl project).