On the 20th-21st of June we held our annual partner retreat in Southport with 45 people in attendance. The retreat which was a great time of encouragement where many partners shared stories of the lives that have been changed through their Green Pastures properties and beyond. It was fantastic to gather together to thank God for all his faithfulness over the last year and to pray for the continued needs for the marginalized in our nation. 

It's Pastor Pete's birthday today! There's lots of tea and cake around the Green Pastures office to celebrate.

We've just purchased a second Green Pastures house for the Mulberry Project in Blackpool. This property now houses 3 people who would have otherwise been homeless but are now serious about their recovery from substance misuse. “Without the faith put in us by Green Pastures it is quite possible the all six of our residents would be back on the streets and back using whatever substance they used before.” said Keith Stevenson, The Mulberry Project's project coordinator. 

Today we have completed on a new house in York for our partners Restore York. This is the culmination of much hard work and prayer in Restore York's offices and in ours. Today the next stage begins - moving tenants in and providing support. The house will be used to house 3 homeless people. If you want to house the homeless in your town, get in touch in our Contact Us section. 

Due to the extraordinary kindness of Premier Radio, we now have three adverts playing reguarly on the radio! Click below to listen. If you run a radio station and would like to run our advert to help us house more homeless people, get in touch at the Contact Us section.
 
Green Pastures Radio Advert by greenpastures

This week we're putting the finishing touches on our shiny new website! We've worked really hard to ensure that, whatever your reason for visiting this site, you can get the information you require as soon as possible. Here are a few highlights:

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THE HOMEPAGE
The homepage is the launch page of the site. From here you'll get the main headlines of what we've been up to and links to the latest information on the site. You can click on the carousel at the top of the page to go to the content advertised or to watch a video. On the bottom section there is a news, blog and twitter feed as well as links to various articles within the site. Click here to go to our homepage.

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GIVING TO GREEN PASTURES
Its now easier than ever to give to Green Pastures. Through our give page you can give online and you can also give with a paper form. It's also a great way to get information about the GP 1000 club. Click here to go to our Give page. 

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PARTNER MAP
The Partner Map is the fastest way of finding out what partners we have where. It's an essential tool for anyone who is considering volunteering, or even partnering themselves. Click here to go to our Partner Map.

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LOAN STOCK APPLICATION 
Applying for Loan Stock has never been simpler. Our Online Loan Stock Application takes under 10 minutes to complete! You can use it to invest in ending homelessness in the UK and also earn a 5% annual return. Click here to go to our Loan Stock Application. 

The new year presents many opportunities to house homeless people. We are currently in negotiations on 4 properties which will house an additional 14 homeless people through our network of partners. 

Green Pastures was honoured to be chosen as the winner of the 2011 Inspire Award in the Organisation category. The Inspire Awards, run by Inspire magazine in collaboration with the Evangelical Alliance, celebrate the unsung heroes that are really making adifference in their community. Green Pastures directors Vicki Woodley and Pete Cunningham collected the award at a ceremony in the House of Lords. This really is an award for all the Green Pastures partners, for all their fantastic work!!!

Some of the most marginalized people in this country are failed asylum seekers. Often caught in the bureaucratic cravases of the hugely political immigration system, thousands of people are left destitute every year. With no legal right to work and no entitlement to housing benefits, these people are in need of homes without any way of paying rent. The Boaz Trust works with desistute asylum seekers in the Manchester area and this month Green Pastures has purchased them thier second property to house these people. That's four more asylum seekers who won't have to sleep on the streets this winter!