On these winter evenings I often sit in my warm, comfortable living room and look out at the weather outside. Not only is it dark: it’s freezing cold, a bitter wind is blowing and pretty regularly it’s raining or sleeting. It makes me think of the person who has recently started sleeping in a bus shelter on a main road who I often pass on my way into town. And how, with the plastic bags and clutter spreading out more and more as they have been there for longer, they must be so cold, so vulnerable and visible as they are in such a public place. And I imagine how difficult it must be to be able to wash or use basic facilities, or get some hot food and drink. I wonder how they are faring tonight, in that bus shelter which is their only home.

I also wonder about the refugees I served food to in Calais
on a Camcrag convoy, and how they don’t even have a bus shelter and are sleeping out rough in the woods. How do they survive through the winter over there, in such inadequate clothes and footwear, where it seems to be even more bitterly cold, windy and hostile?

I’ve been involved in several activities for Camcrag, and
this year I decided I’d go for this. I can’t carry on just looking out of my window and doing so little to actually help. I hope you feel the same, and will sponsor me, even if you cannot give very much at all. It will be really appreciated.