What Lies Inside the Storage Unit

Reading time: 2 minutes ⌚ / Written By: Lilian (Marketing Lead)

Sometimes I think “wouldn't it be nice if we did something which was simple for people to understand?” Which is a funny thing to think, considering Street Storage is one of the simplest concepts: we store people's belongings when they're experiencing homelessness, removing a physical and mental burden so they can begin taking steps towards moving out of their difficult situation

Despite this simplicity though, you'd be surprised how many people don't see it. Simon, our Fundraising Manager, spoke with someone who worked in homelessness and they disappointingly made the comment: “Aren’t you just enabling people to stay on the street?”.

I spoke with someone at a networking event who, when asked "What 3 things would you take if you lost your home today?" replied: "Nothing, because I don't need anything." I tried to offer some perspective, wouldn't you need your passport as a form of ID, your toothbrush, your phone and charger to make the connections you'd need?

Though more often than not, people do get it. We have hundreds of amazing supporters who understand the complexities of what we do and who go above and beyond for us as a charity.

Particularly for those who visit us, there’s often a moment when the reality of what we do and why really strikes.

We start our site tours by going through our various rooms, then finish in the storage unit. Understandably, many people become emotional as we walk them through sharing stories of the people who have used our service. Time and again, people are shocked by the sheer scale of the space and the depth of the work.

This reminds me of a conversation I once had with Daniella, who used to work for Street Storage. We were standing in the storage unit together and she spoke about how you could feel the energy of hundreds of people who used the service in there, the weight of so many lives. She told me that when she would contact people to check in around where they were in their journey out of homelessness, or whether they were ready to collect their belongings, she would go and stand next to their bag in the unit to create a mental image of the person and feel a sense of connection with them. When she told me that, I really felt it. You don't have to be a spiritual person to understand this; people speak of feeling the energy in places where significant events have taken place. That's what many people describe when they visit our storage unit. Whether psychological or not, it becomes very real when you're standing in that space, struck by how many people trust Street Storage with their most precious possessions during one of the most difficult times of their lives.

This is why, when working with someone creating a piece of media for us(like writing an article or producing a video about us) it's so important that they're able to capture those feelings: the ones people usually experience in person, through a different format.

In my personal opinion, if you haven't experienced homelessness yourself, understanding and connecting with our work comes down to one thing: being genuinely in tune with your empathy, and being willing to really shift your perspective.

See it with your own eyes

We really encourage you to watch the tour video of our space on our YouTube channel. It’s not quite the same as in person, but it does the trick pretty well.

You can check out some stories of how we’ve directly helped people by heading to our Stories Behind The Storage page.