This is Mikey.

So I met Mikey today at a set of traffic lights in central Birmingham. In the freezing pouring rain he was walking between the lines of traffic holding his sign. He didn't beg or bother people.

I beckoned him over and handed him a full McDonalds' coffee loyalty card with 6 stickers on it (I never give cash). Basically a voucher for a free cup of coffee worth about £1.30p.

Never has anyone been so grateful for receiving so little, to my amazement he spoke in a clear american accent. Turns out I'm 'a dude', and I didn't even know it.

I parked up, got a takeaway chicken mayo sandwich meal and strolled into the centre of the traffic lights. Mikey devoured it in seconds before my very eyes under the shelter of my umbrella - 'Dude, this like never happens'.

I've never seen anyone so hungry. You can still see a frenzied splash of mayo on the corner of his mouth.

Soaked to the skin and shivering with cold he gave me the highlights. Mikey is now 25, born in New York state USA. He has dual nationality due to both his parents being Polish, so 4 years ago he left the USA as he had the right to move to Europe to work. A one way ticket brought him to a job in England. He had no support network in the UK and when the job folded he fell between the cracks. He hasn't spoken to his family back home, his mum or dad or older brother for a long time. He showed me a small pile of money (only 1p's and 2p's). Roughly £2 he guessed, his earnings so far that day.

Mikey, known as Yankee to the homeless community, refused the offer of new clothes and a haircut. 'Dude, I need to look like this or I won't make anything'.

Mikey smelled real bad, I told him that I've smelled corpses that smell sweeter than him. This is when I first saw his broad cheeky smile and his personality emerged.

Mikey agreed to the crowd funding idea and accepted that some new waterproof footwear and some thermal under layers would be awesome. I got his permission to film him and I’ve made it clear that he will never receive any cash.

If we go beyond target we might consider a sleeping bag, tent, etc.

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So we've done an awesome job so far. I've spent £39.58 on a decent pair of Karrimor waterproof boots and a pair of hiking socks in the half price sale at Sports Direct. A big thank you to the manager at Sports Direct who knocked off a further 10% after patiently letting me babble out the story.

It seems more socks are on the list.

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So thanks to an overwhelming response I was able to go shopping today for a few more essentials.

Tesco meal deal (with ready salted crisps!!) - £3. Shaving foam, razors, body spray, toothpaste, toothbrush - £4.15p. Another trip to my go to outlet, Sports Direct, for a Backpack, Jacket, gloves, hat, socks, boxers and thermal base layers - £96.27p. Another huge thank you to the manager of Sports Direct for the 10% discount.

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So Mikey has kindly allowed me view only access to his Facebook page from 'back in the day'. I've put together a few of his pictures to show where this young man once was in life.

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So a huge thank you to well wishers from Telford for their personal donation of towel, flannel, bedroll, sleeping bag, energy bars, waterproof over trousers, no less than 4 packets of salt n vinegar crisps, and bathroom essentials. Thanks guys.

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So I caught up again with Mikey today. Mikey is grateful to the people he meets for a few seconds at his traffic lights who hand him a few coins. But when I handed over the stash from the guys in Telford, Mikey was blown away that people he has never met seem to care about him. Mikey became emotional and asked me not to show those parts of the video.

I've been quite selfish with our money so far and only given Mikey things that I believe would benefit him. He's still wearing his boots every time we meet, he was wearing the base layers today and everything else was stuffed into the backpack. True to his word he hasn't sold anything. I asked him what he would like if he could choose something. It was a short list; a mobile phone and a fidget cube.

So i'll pick a cube up no problem, but i asked him direct, why would a homeless person need a mobile phone? Dinner reservations? Turns out the homeless community look out for themselves, there's a network, a brotherhood. If Mikey is connected he can receive and exchange texts about which of the local shelters and hostels have capacity on any given night. So I'm gonna get him in the loop.

We can see from the pictures from Mikey's facebook page that back in the day he wore glasses a lot. It popped up in conversation and I discovered Mikey's eyesight is very near-sighted, worse than mine in fact. Opticians appointment will be sorted in the next few days.

Finally I offered Mikey a trolley dash in Greggs, he modestly took advantage of this but only chose 6 items. £5.70p.

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So Mikey was feeling a bit down today, and you know what in his situation I'd get a little depressed myself from time to time. He asked if it was okay if I didn't film him today, no problem. So I've found an ancient second hand Vodaphone for him. A huge thank you to Karl at Gizmo Electronics in Birmingham who dropped the price from £20 to £15. We've started with £10 credit, grand total of £25. Needless to say the phone is apparently 'badass', (trust me, it's not badass).

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So I met Mikey again, starving, fed him - £4.05p. Took him to Specsavers for an eye-test - everyday thing for you and me, but stressful if your aware of your appearance. We got him through it even though he became introverted and awkward. The staff were brilliant. Free eye-test (cheers Specsavers), we pick up a pair of budget specs later this week - £49.

I passed on to Mikey a bag load of stuff sent by a well-wisher, plus a head torch £6. Thanks guys you are all amazing, I couldn't of got this far without all your kind donations.

(Apology - I messed up with the first purchase of phone credit as it was ordinary ‘pay as you go’ and that got chewed through in no time. I’ve got him a £10 big value bundle now so he’s got unlimited texts for a month 👍🏻).

Total spent so far - £242.75

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Met Mikey again today, he was late, I told him off :) He has clearly taken a new pride in his appearance, hair washed and clean shaven, well done Mikey. The video speaks for itself, how we take the little things for granted.

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Not the best day for Mikey today. Mikey has a quiet corner, a den, somewhere where he can keep his stuff and has semi-shelter to sleep. He calls it his 'booth'. His booth got cleared out by the authorities today and he can't go back; so he has lost a lot of his stuff, not sure what he's left with now but he's basically starting from scratch again. Understandably he was stressed about this. (One of the possessions he did manage to rescue was his bible).

A while ago Mikey handed me a broken beaten up old Sekonda watch and asked me if I could do anything with it. He's gone through thick and thin but always managed to hold onto this watch - super sentimental value as his dad bought it for him when he was younger. Turns out it just needed a battery, £5 well spent, Mikey was over the moon. Got him some crisps and breakfast bars to tide him over £4, and he stuffed his face with a McDonalds, my treat. Mikey's phone is an issue as he struggles to charge it, I've bought two power banks so I can charge them up and swap him a dead one for a charged one every time we meet, £29.98.

We also met a with a really nice journalist, Kamal Sultan, who interviewed Mikey to expand on his story. Keep your eyes on the Birmingham Mail over the next few days.

Mikey has agreed it's time to get serious now, the journey begins to get his passports, status, national insurance number and all that stuff sorted so we can get him on his feet and ultimately working and living the American dream.

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So thanks to all the recent exposure Mikey has been reunited with a kind lady Debbie and her daughter Hannah who were in contact with him while he was on the streets a while back. Today they were able to meet up, catch up and take Mikey out to lunch. Awesome.

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A big thank you to everyone who are now giving me personal donations, backpacks, sleeping bags, socks, boxers, food, crisps - amazing. Any surplus will be passed on to other homeless people or homeless charities.

Met Mikey again to today, he was looking well and clean and tidy; he was in good spirits. I presented him with a set of American Military style dog-tags for him to wear. The idea is that with every step he takes he will feel them jangle against his chest to remind him that he needs to change his life - if he doesn't make changes then the dog-tags may ultimately be needed for their original purpose - identification.

Of course he was hungry so I took him out for lunch, he chose chicken noodle chow mein. He ate half of it and even though he could of easily wolfed the lot down he saved half for later and took it away in a doggy bag.

Next stop was the Millets store where we got a tent, lantern, padded thermal coat and carry bag. Mikey gratefully accepted some of the recently donated items - boxers, socks, backpack, sleeping bag, t shirts and snacks. Today's total spend £171.87.

The wheels are slowly turning to obtain Mikey's passports and personal documentation. We have also arranged to meet with a homeless organisation who can help with accommodation, medical needs, clothing, food etc. Mikey is on board to engage with them. A huge thank you to Debbie who is totally invested in Mikey and together we are sharing the workload to get him sorted.

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All Mikey's passports and personal documents have now been retrieved and are being held onto safe and sound. Today we went to an organisation called SIFA Fireside in Digbeth Birmingham. Mikey has registered with them and can now start to access the services they provide, he has also been referred to a rough sleepers organisation who can offer him help. Baby steps but we're on our way ...

(Two phone vouchers purchased, one for this month and one for next month plus some Halloween Haribos = £23.)

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So I'm still keeping regular contact with Mikey. His life is full of ups and downs. Right now we have hit a down. The circumstances of a friend who offered Mikey shelter fairly regularly have changed. So currently Mikey is living in the one man tent we got him, he is already permanently cold and wet as we head towards the harsh months of winter. We are still engaging with the organisations who offer help, but it's a slow process.

Mikey is pitched not too far away from a branch of Greggs, so I have got him a gift voucher card and loaded it with £50, so that he access warm soup and food.

He now struggles to charge his phone and power banks so its difficult to keep in contact with him.

In our imagination we might picture this ...

However, this is Mikey ...

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A huge thank you to Polesworth Aikido who held their 2nd birthday event this Sunday. All proceeds raised plus some extra personal donations have been given to help Mikey. Awesome job, thanks guys.