Johnny Cunnigham was 63. Dhruv and I met him last year at a homeless shelter. Shortly afterwards, he died on the streets of Cambridge.

Johnny told us that New Year's Day was hardest day of the year for him. All of the day centres are closed for a well deserved break. He used to love spending the day reading in the library, but even that was shut. It was lonely, miserable, and freezing cold. It's hard to forget the look in his eyes when he said this.

This New Year, we might celebrate another year gone by with our loved ones. We might reminisce about our biggest moments of 2019. We might nurse our hangovers, and make our resolutions for the year ahead. Whilst we do this, there will be some in our society counting down the hours until they can step into the warmth.

We can do better in Cambridge. We must. And it starts on New Year's Day, 2020.

We're organising a "Big Brunch" which will bring the homeless indoors on the 1st January, for a hot meal, music and some kindness. We managed this for the first time last year, and fed over 60 homeless people and volunteers. This year we want to do the same- but we need your help.

This Christmas, please can you spare some change to help us make this a reality? Your donations will go directly to buying what we need to feed as many people as we can on New Year's Day (and any remaining proceeds will go to support homeless activities in Cambridge). No amount is too small.

If you got this far, thank you for reading. Any help would be much appreciated. If you would like to donate food directly or help us on the day itself for any period of time, please email us at bigbrunchcambridge@gmail.com.

In the words of Gregory Boyle: “Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry, rather than stand in judgement at how they carry it.”

Let's start 2020 in the right way, together.

Thank you, and very best wishes to you for the festive period.

Nish and Dhruv