The other day a friend of mine told me how when she was at the train station last week, she bought a man who is homeless a cup of tea. He was extremely grateful and she then went to get him something to eat…she came back over to him to give him some food and he was handing over his cup of tea to somebody else (who is also sleeping on the streets), he then said to her “sorry, I hope you don’t mind, my friend has just come out of hospital so he needs it more than me”. Someone who is living on the streets, with no home was giving the small thing he had been given to someone else. Extremely caring and selfless. A huge percentage of people end up homeless due to loss of jobs and circumstances out of their control. Another friend of mine works for a charity and knows numerous people who do have jobs, yet cannot afford rent down south. There was an article published last week on the rise in homelessness in Milton Keynes, so much so it is now being referred to as ‘Tent City’.

When you think... some of us are cold in our houses, we are cold when we are out and about for a short time in winter, we are cold when we are walking to our cars. We love the thought of a hot cup of tea when we get home, a hot bath, our beds. Some people have nowhere to go, nowhere to warm up, nowhere and nothing to look forward to.

Yes, homelessness is an extremely big problem, bigger than I could ever imagine, bigger than we could ever imagine. I barely know anything in the grand scheme of it and I certainly wouldn’t know where to begin to help on a large scale but I truly believe so strongly in small acts of kindness, in coming together and doing our bit, doing something! Making someone feel slightly warmer in the winter months, raising awareness slightly, making sure people get an extra meal than they perhaps would have done… anything is surely better than nothing.

Therefore a group of us are rallying together to collect and hand out for the homeless in Milton Keynes. We will be handing out on Sunday 17th December.

Any donations welcomed and appreciated, no matter how ‘small’, it could go much further than you think.

We are collecting items and raising money - the money will be used towards anything we are lacking in terms of collections i.e. new socks (crucial for people living on the streets), thermos for hot drinks for them to keep, soup for us to hand out on the day, etc.

Any items or money left over will being going to Help the Homeless MK and MK Winter Night Shelter.

Thank you in advance for your support, we appreciate it hugely!!!

Helen, Codie & the team :)