An angel among us

Because it's not just her own food the 48-year-old has to prepare each morning. As well as having three dogs, a dozen chickens and her partner Phil to consider, Tracey looks after 124 other animals at Rogue's Place in Aldridge.

With everything from owls to ferrets and pigs to guinea pigs in her menagerie, Tracey's day of looking after others doesn't stop when the last of the morning slops are gobbled up.

As well as taking care of aimals in need, Tracey supports, cooks for and offers a safe environment for some of the most vulnerable adults in Walsall.

For the past nine years, she's also managed Hi's N Lows, a support organisation for homeless adults and those with problematic drug and alcohol dependencies in the Walsall community.

Funded by Walsall Council, Hi's N Lows was founded by Tracey in 2005 after she became concerned that male injection drug users weren't receiving enough help.

She says: "I was working as a young person's drug worker at Walsall crime reduction charity Nacro when I decided to create Hi's N Lows. I'd had lots of jobs in the past including a qualified gym instructor, so I worked with Nacro to help young people focus their negative energies into sports and other diversionary activities.

"What I found was that there was a gap in the daily support facilities available for hard to reach and vulnerable adults, specifically men with injection drug dependencies. People had nowhere to go."

To try to fill the gap in available services, Tracey set up Hi's N Lows initially as a weekly drop in support service, making toasties for the service users and offering a friendly listening ear. It soon became apparent that once a week wasn't enough.

"Four years ago there was a heroin drought in the UK and more and more people were turning to alcohol as a substitute," says Tracey.

"With the economic downturn too, we saw more people in need of support – not just those with drug addictions."

Hi's N Lows soon became a full-time service for people in Walsall. Though it offers no drug treatment, it served as a place for those with drug and alcohol dependencies to feel safe and comfortable, receive support and find referrals for medical care and housing services.

Tracey began to provide a soup kitchen to feed homeless people, and supply fresh, clean clothes too, relying heavily on the kindness of others for donations.

She said: "Walsall Council has a great scheme where it visits our local branch of Lidl each morning and delivers fresh fruit and veg, so we can give our service users a few of their five-a-day."

Challenging

Tracey and her team of volunteers offer community support too, undertaking clean-up operations to safely dispose of drug paraphernalia – such as needles – from local areas. Along with the disposal of dangerous drug litter, Hi's N Lows educates regional businesses and the wider community about dealing with it and advises drug users of the dangers of dumping used works.

One of the most challenging times for Tracey is the colder winter months. Hi's N Lows, now based in the Glebe Centre in Wednesbury Road, Walsall, offers safe facilities for Walsall's homeless to take refuge from the cold.

"When the weather dropped below zero degrees for three consecutive nights, we were authorised by the council to open the centre to give our service users somewhere warm and safe to sleep," says Tracey.

"The council policy then changed, allowing us to open whenever the weather dropped below zero. I'd argue that it is worse when it's raining as when you're wet and cold you can't get dry. But we were at least able to offer a hot meal and a warm place to sleep on the freezing nights."

Last year the shelter was open for 67 nights and relied heavily on food donations as well as gifts of hats, gloves, socks and scarves.

As time has passed, and since moving to larger premises at the Glebe Centre, Hi's N Lows has seen people with a wider range of needs using the service.

Tracey explains: "More non-addicts who are in need have been coming along to see us. We offer services to fast-track people into housing and we always try to help people out when setting up on their own. If we can find them kitchenware or furniture, we do. It's OK finding someone a place to live but then how do they furnish it?"

With a growing number of service users, including those with mental health issues, finding support at Hi's N Lows, the team of eight volunteers – some who used the service in the past themselves – are gearing up for another winter.

It's not just people that Tracey cares for that require extra support in the cold months ahead. The ever-expanding family of animals that she cares for at Rogue's Place, based at the Woodlands Outdoor Learning Centre in Aldridge, are also in need of shelter, food and bedding.

Many of the animals, including three turkeys and 35 chickens were rescued from commercial slaughter by vegan Tracey. Others were accepted to their new 'forever home' because they've either arrived injured and cannot be re-released into the wild or because they're unwanted by previous owners.

Tracey says: "At the moment I use my wages to feed the animals and buy bedding and supplies to take care of them. Lots of people have old rabbit hutches or sheds in their gardens that are going to waste and we'd love to them to house our animals. Even if they're rotten, I can repair them."

With a 9-5 job as well as early morning starts, it's surprising that Tracey has any time for repairing sheds as her weekends are dominated by looking after the animals too, but she finds time and has a support team of volunteers. Sunday is mucking-out day and there are six teenagers that are hands-on at Rogue's Place.

Tracey and the Rogue's team are also planning their Christmas fundraiser when they hope to raise money for feed and bedding to see the animals through the winter.

"We're hoping that children can gather acorns during the autumn and bring them to Rogue's as our pigs love them.

"People with allotments or fruit trees will have a bigger harvest than they can eat too, and we hope they can bring them to Rogue's to help feed the animals."

To donate, or to find out more about Rogue's Place or Hi's N Lows, email Tracey on roguesplace@outlook.com