Blatant plug, again.

Sorry I haven’t responded to this before. I cannot contribute anything, as I am involved with a Homeless charity here in Lincolnshire, but I do really appreciate what you guys are doing in your own community. Most people living comfortable home lives do not appreciate what life is like for those with nothing, not even a roof. If they manage to find a shelter, they are moved on by the police, two local officers having told me that they sincerely hate that part of their job. However, they say, there is always a ‘concerned citizen‘ ready to phone their station and report some poor person trying to sleep in a doorway.

I got involved with the local charity by speaking to a guy I first met when I moved over here. He is the successful owner of a large vehicle bodyshop who had a serious accident and was unable to direct the business for a while. Wandering around town, he met two homeless people and got talking to them. He resumed running the business, but never forgot those two guys, started to involve others in the local community. He badgered local shops and supermarkets for food and clothing, blankets, and medical supplies. Then he suckered involved myself as one of those taking stuff to people all over East Lyndsey: Louth, Horncastle, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Mablethorpe and Skegness. I was most shocked by the number in Louth and Mablethorpe, which is well outside of the average in larger towns.

You would expect that places like Grimsby would be dangerous at night: not so, we are well protected by the Homeless themselves. I am always really chuffed when one or more of the affected people make it back into life again, and it does happen: they just need someone to believe in them and the knowledge that they are not ignored is, they tell me, the biggest boost. There is no website for our efforts, we are just a bunch of locals who want to help. There was a time in my life when I could have been on the streets myself.

I respect your own efforts to help, Nolan.