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One Big Family- Helping the Homeless is a full- time job for Darren and Liz. 

 

Liz quit her job in retail managment in order to work,unpaid, with the charity full time.Darren,amazingly, works nights full time in addition to his contributions towards the charity, sleeping only a few hours a day. 

 

According to the Annual Survey of Earnings and Hours from the Office for Natioanl Statistics the average full-time working week is 37.7 hours 

 

That number pales in comparassion to the hundreds and hundreds of hours Darren and Liz pour into changing peoples lives for the better.As Liz explains 

 

"Its not 9-5 we can get called out at any time, we can have made plans to do something and then we'll get an emergencey phone call." 

 

The intense hours, and unpredictable nature of the work they do makes it incomparable to any 9-5 out there. 

 

And unlike your average 9-5 evenings and weekends are hardly ever for leisure.

 

With preparation for the soup kitchen eating up the majority of the weekend and the kitchen taking place on a Sunday night free time is a precious rarity in the Shaw household.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To further differentiate itself from a full time job is the lack of holiday. 

 

Any holiday time must be planned around the soup kitchen on a Sunday meaning a holiday can never realistically be more than a couple of days with Darren And Liz also expected to answer a steady stream of calls, emails and messages. 

 

This also makes it hard for the pair of them to see their families, especially Liz whose family live in Yorkshire. Despite this her family up north are extremley understanding

 

"They can see that im happy. Tired, very tired, but you know its incredibly rewarding" 

 

Although she may not see much of her real family anymore, her spiritual family, One Big Family-Helping the Homeless are taking a more actuve role in relieving the pressure on her and Darren.

 

"The good thing is our volunteers in Medway are getting more and more involved, they are embracing training, so they can help to take the pressure off" 

 

The process of training volunteers is a slow one however, but hopefully their dedication and determination will ease the burdern on Liz And Darren.

 

 

Hopefully as the 'One Big Family' grows Liz and Darren will be able to spend more quality time with their own families. 

 

"Its a process we are going to have to go through so they can do what we do basically" 

 

Despite all the sacrifices Darren And Liz have made its clear that they wouldnt change it for anything in the world.....   

 

 

Read about what a soup kitchen is really like here