Last night I went with my friend Dave to give out Duvet coats and clothes to the homeless people of Chelmsford. It was upsetting, slightly scary and eye opening all at once. I shall tell you the whole story from beginning to end.
It was on Thursday of this week that I decided to give out some of my Duvet coats when I ended up sweating in one walking round town. I realised that being as they are the warmest coats EVER, these are exactly the type of coats the homeless need in this cold weather. So Dave and I agreed to go out on Friday night to give out some of these coats. I put a few shout outs on twitter for help with where to go which led to some really good advice and also people pointing me in the direction of some homeless shelters, and it also resulted in two AMAZING women buying two more Duvet coats from my website to add to the pile to give out (MASSIVE thanks to Vicki McKellar and Nicole C, you are total angels).
I had spent some of Friday day time speaking with people about how best to go about finding homeless people and what to expect. I had been warned that some might be on drugs or drunk and that some might not really be homeless, that they just beg for money and then go home to an actual house and it’s all a con. We had even spoken to a local councillor who had said “don’t do it” as it was “dangerous”. I had been told not to give them money as they are likely to spend it on drink and drugs. I was told not to give any coats to any that were high on drugs as they would likely sell it to get money for drugs. I was told to be really careful and to stay safe. It was all very confusing and seemed like it was going to be a lot harder than I initially thought. I was there thinking it would be easy, that I’d just find some homeless people and give them some coats to keep them warm!!
Anyway, I then see a news article on Friday that said that on Thursday night, a homeless man had died on the street in Chelmsford. Whether due to the cold or illness it’s not quite clear but definitely the cold didn’t help. The homeless of Chelmsford were devastated and had given quotes to the local newspaper about him saying what a nice guy he was. I felt sick. It seemed even more apt that I had only decided the day before that I was going to give out coats and clothing to people.
Dave and I started by