My eldest Son Jack (7) really wants to raise some money to help the homeless who are living on the streets by collecting as much rubbish as possible on Saturday 11th of May 2024.

It all started when he had noticed some people looking rather cold under duvets sitting on the floor in our local high street. He turned to me and asked why they were there as it was so cold. I explained that they were homeless and I could tell that he was deeply upset by this. He replied with “but mum that is so unfair and that nobody should be without a home”. I said your right Jack and we went home.

The following weekend I asked him what he wanted to do, to get out of the house. He said “I want to go to the high street to help the homeless”. To be honest I was a bit taken back. He said, “I want to go help them and give them some money”. I then watched him take his pocket money out of his money pot and put it in his pocket and said maybe we could go to Greg's to get a cake. So off we went. On the way to Greg's he spotted a person sat on the floor under a blanket and he looked at me. I knew what he was thinking so, I suggested that instead of giving him his pocket money maybe we could buy him a hot cup of tea instead. He replied... “great idea”! Whilst I was asking for the tea at the till I caught him putting his pocket money into a charity box. I looked at him and smiled and he just smiled at me back. He still had enough left over to personally pay for the tea. Nervously he approached the man and he handed the tea to him. He said, “here I wanted to buy this for you”. He was very happy that he had helped someone less fortunate and off home we went. I couldn't take a picture of this moment for obvious reasons but I can say the man was grateful and thanked him for his generosity. I was very proud of how concerned he was for this person and really wanting to make a difference.

After this, Jack still kept asking me mum what can we do to help. I suggested a sponsored walk which we agreed on this until we went for a normal walk with friends along the seafront only to find Jack collecting rubbish from the beach and running to the bin. So now Jack wants to collect rubbish off of the beach for a charity called Off the streets. We will collect as much as we can and if anyone wants to come along and help too that would be amazing!

Off the streets are the perfect charity to have chosen to hopefully raise some money for. They are a homeless charity based in Southend. They believe everyone deserves a place to call home and their main objective is to get rough sleepers off the streets and into permanent accommodation. They also work together with other agencies to prevent homelessness.

Off The Streets also aim to give people back a sense of dignity and belonging by providing education and support to achieve their goals and overcome the challenges before them one step at a time.

Jack and I, really feel that this is such a worthy charity as they really are making a difference.

At least 449 people died while homeless since October 2017.

69% of those who died were men and 21% were women (the gender was not established in the remaining 10% of cases).

65 died rough sleeping.

JANUARY was the worst month for deaths, With 33 people losing their lives.

​258 overall died were recorded in England and Wales, with 109 of those occurring in London alone. In Scotland, 42 deaths were recorded.

So please if you would like and can donate please do. It is so cold out there right now and your donations can really help those who are out living on the streets.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

Jack & Rochanne

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