Ritchie came to Liverpool Lighthouse 5 years ago; at the time he was homeless and suffering with addictions to drugs and alcohol. Ritchie came to the Temple of Praise, held at Liverpool Lighthouse at Christmas time; he had hit rock bottom and was desperately looking for help.

Being part of the Temple of Praise gave Ritchie a new perspective, he got clean and with the support of the friends he made at Temple of Praise he started to build his life back up.

Through the church, Ritchie was introduced to the Liverpool Lighthouse charity, where we were able to offer Ritchie a volunteer placement to help him gain confidence, skills and meet new people. He made such great progress and was so good at his role, that he was given more responsibilities, and, when the opportunity arose, Liverpool Lighthouse employed Ritchie as the Venue Assistant.

Ritchie says: “Before I came here I had no idea what it would be like – I just thought it was a church, so I thought it would be churchy but it’s not, the place always has loads going on, I’m glad I came. Now I set up events and help run them, I am a key holder for the Lighthouse – I open and close the building. I am also a first aider, which I never thought I would be.

Since being here I have become a better person within myself and towards other people. I put that down to the people around me; everyone’s friendly and gets to know each other – there’s no animosity at all here, it’s a nice environment to be in.

I recommend people come to Liverpool Lighthouse and get involved somehow – you could do voluntary work, come to the one of the courses or attend one of the events, It’s definitely worth coming and seeing what’s going on, I really enjoy my time here, in fact I enjoy it so much I don’t look at it as work!”