Our Vision
Bringing ‘Hope in Community’
To see vulnerable families transformed by the love of Jesus, empowered by friendship and sharing community with others.
At Riverbank we are a family first and a charity second. We work with families of any faith, ethnicity or nationality, welcoming all. We aim to equip the church community – both individually and corporately – to draw alongside families in need and walk alongside them, sharing God’s love with them through both practical support and caring friendship.
Our Mission
Riverbank Trust is a Christian Charity which seeks to love, support and befriend vulnerable single Mums and their families in the London Borough of Richmond. We welcome all families in need, irrespective of faith, belief, ethnicity or nationality.
We draw alongside single women and their families both practically and emotionally, to support, to encourage and to create community. We also work with single fathers, guardians caring for children and Young Carers.
Whether at one of our play groups, over a coffee one to one, or helping with a practical task, we are passionate about building long term, meaningful and sustaining relationships.
Our Values
What We Do
LET’S BE FRIENDS!
We’re all about relationship at Riverbank. And we love getting to know people in the good old fashioned way of spending time, one to one, with women who need someone to talk to, someone to listen, someone to really care about them. We believe that trusting relationships are the place where real healing and transformation are able to take place. We train up our volunteers to become Riverbank Befrienders, and then we support them to build relationships with vulnerable Mums that offer practical and emotional support. It’s that simple.
LET’S BE PART OF SOMETHING!
We also love community. We want to welcome those who are isolated into our Riverbank Family and that means we run groups for Mums where they can meet other Mums, meet new faces from our community, learn new skills, share food together and hopefully share life together. We do this in our ‘home’ church, Holy Trinity Richmond, and out and about in the community too.
LET’S DO IT TOGETHER!
As we’ve said, we’re a Christian Ministry and we LOVE the local Church. We help equip the local churches in Richmond reach out to love and support vulnerable single Mums and their families. We do this through training our volunteers, finding different ways for the Church to get involved in our events and to get out there and meet those who are isolated and lonely in our community. We also want to empower the wonderful Mums that we meet to serve their community. It’s our absolute joy that over the last 3 years we have already seen some of the Mums we know go on to volunteer for us.
SCHOOLS MINISTRY
Another vital part of our community, another place that we want to offer support. For the last 3 years we have been offering therapeutic support to vulnerable children in local primary schools, addressing issues such as poor social skills, low self esteem and behavioural needs. Our work is highly preventative and focussed on working with children before they reach crisis point. We also provide support to parents within the school context through, positive parenting courses and one to one sessions.
We are currently working in several primary schools in the Richmond borough. If you would like to find out more about this work please contact us here.
LISTEN TO WHAT SOME OF OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE SAYING ABOUT WORKING WITH US!
VOLUNTEERS' TESTIMONIES
Our Team
Michelle Rutter
Anke Marais
Karen Block
Reni James
Sheena Marx
Sue Jackson
Vivi Henrich
