After the success of the Christmas backpack appeal last year the Homeless Street Angels are now collecting for this year’s Christmas appeal. They will be going around town and Headingley, Leeds on Christmas eve with a Christmas dinner and their usual supplies and also three special Christmas gifts per person.
They are taking sponsors of each gift bag at £25.00 each alternatively people can donate items from the list on the link below or volunteer at their wrapping event at the Lord Darcy which will be by booking
only (via the website). There will also be a cake sale and a rafflewith some great prizes.
Follow the link below for more information on how you can help out this festive season to those who need it most.
2020 has been a long and difficult year for most but now is the time to pull together to help individuals get through the holiday season.
Below is a word from Shelley and Becky Joyce.
We started helping out the homeless over two years ago and have been appealing on facebook for donations. Our reputation has since grown and grown and we now have regular donations and a great team of volunteers who help out with our outreach on a weekly basis.
We go out every Thursday night and hand out over 100 hot meals and desserts as well as sandwiches and snack packs, warm clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags, tents, and other essentials.
We have a great team of volunteers who join us walking around town handing out the supplies and having regular chats with our guys as often all they want is a chat and someone to talk to. They look forward to seeing us every week and our service is a major help and support for them.
We also offer assistance with rehousing the guys on the streets and go along with them on a regular basis to meetings with the council and housing options. Once they have secured a forever home we help set it up for them often decorating it and doing a shout out on facebook for any donations of furniture and white goods.
We offer continual support once they are settled and often take food parcels round and help out in emergencies when they are struggling.
We have now received full charity status and our brand is growing from strength to strength. We are gaining a huge media presence now which is helping us to achieve great things re the outreach we do.
We are aiming eventually to open ‘Abi House’ which will be a day centre to base everything from as at the moment myself, Shelley Joyce and my sister Becky joyce, are doing everything from our homes. Once we have abi house we will be able to use it as a central drop off point for all the donations and a drop in centre for the guys on the streets to come and get some food, a hot drink and some housing support.
We have found over the years that once a homeless person has been given an empty shell of a house they are just left too it so this will be an extension of that where we can offer further assistance and help to teach them some life skills. Without this support it is very easy for them to not believe in themselves and end up back on the streets. Prevention is the cure here.
With the ongoing situation in the UK with Corona virus we have been assured that the street sleepers have been housed in a Hotel for the time being so we have put our Thursday outreach on hold until it all blows over. The health and safety of our team and of our guys on the streets is our main priority and once this is all over they will need our support even more.
We also help our newly housed guys with regular food parcels and often help other families who are simply just struggling in life who can’t afford to put meals on the table so we take round food parcels for them too.
Recently we have handed out so many food parcels for families isolating and in need and we have spent a lot of our budget already but we can’t just abandon people especially at the moment.
It’s times like these that communities need to stick together and support people and as a team we are providing ongoing support at a time when it is needed more than ever.
We are so lucky to have such a dedicated and amazing team and we all feel so privileged to be in a position to help others.
We won’t be beaten by this virus and we won’t let it stop us doing what we do best helping others.
Shelley Joyce & Becky Joyce
Homeless street Angels