However, without him and many other volunteers the recently opened Safe Shelter Shoalhaven could not function.

John regularly gives up his time and shares a strong bond with the people who are now getting shelter from the cold.

The Kinghorne Street Nowra shelter gives homeless people somewhere nice and safe to stay.

John loves spending time with his friends when they come in to stay at the shelter.

“They make me laugh often,” he said.

“If they want a hand up we are here to help. We develop trust first and if you give someone a good hot meal and a warm bed then they will trust you pretty quickly.

“I found it does not take long for people to trust you a little, trust you a bit more and then they are open to suggestions on how we can make changes to their lives if they want.”

The proud Safe Shelter Shoalhaven volunteer said nobody was judged and acceptance was one of the facility’s key features.

John would love to welcome more volunteers to the shelter, saying people should think what it would be like if they had nowhere to stay.

“The first thing that is on the minds of the people we help is ‘where am I going to sleep tonight’,” John said.

“If you don’t have that (somewhere to sleep) sorted out then you just can't sort out things like applying for a job or going to a doctor, looking after you mental health or getting back in touch with your family.

“If you want to make a little difference and give people somewhere safe to sleep and use that as a basis for them to help rebuild their lives, then give us a call.”

John became a volunteer last year for Safe Shelter Shoalhaven when it ran out of the Wesley Centre in Nowra’s Uniting Church.

Like many others John had heard homeless people were being moved on from the Nowra Showground.

“I emailed one of the local councillors and asked about what I could do,” he said.

He was asked to attend a Shoalhaven City Council meeting to speak about the homeless situation in Nowra.

“That is where I met Peter Dover, the people from Salt Ministries and also some of the people who were living rough in the area,” John said.

“As the Safe Shelter project developed I said ‘I would like to come and be a volunteer’.”

Related: Homeless person now feels safe

As time went on John took on more responsibilities and is now a vital part of Safe Shelter Shoalhaven’s team of volunteers.

“I have the time on my hands and now we are here where we are today,” he said.

He said last year at the Wesley Centre was positive.

“The people from the Wesley Centre were very generous in regards to what they did and all the people, both the guests and the volunteers,  I met were great,” he said.

“The spirit was enormous and I think it opened up something positive in the community that we might not have known existed. We are capitalising on that feeling this year.”

Volunteers operate in two shifts at the shelter – 5pm-10pm and 10pm-8am.

Go to www.facebook.com/safesheltershoalhaven/ if you want to become a volunteer.