ADVENT APPEAL 2021

PLEASE click -HERE- and take 3 mins to donate anything you can afford.

We are a NOT FOR PROFIT – Social Enterprise.

Every penny will help the homeless and families in desperate poverty using food banks, thank you for caring.

 

 

We give out Christmas Gift Bags to the young and old homeless who happen to find themselves unfortunately living on our streets.

Any season of the year is a terrible time to be homeless. But the festive season can be a particularly cruel time to be cold, hungry and alone. It is a time when everyone else’s party season can leave them feeling even more vulnerable and isolated than ever. Our Christmas gift bags are not only practical, but show them that someone is thinking of them at Christmas time.

This year gift items, bags and cards will be given out exclusively by the incredible Social Bite. We are always thankful of their help and grateful that we can assist them in anyway. 

 

This is also home to our very own initiative…

“Write To Someone You Miss This Christmas”

There are many more important things for homeless people to worry about than finding money to visit nice card shops and buying stamps.

Not everyone who is homeless has a mobile phone with credit, or even remembers someone’s phone number. It’s harder than ever to stay in contact without social media.

Even knowing what to say in a text out of the blue can be difficult too.  But everyone remembers where a special someone lives, and everyone likes to know that friends and family are safe. Everyone likes to receive card.

“Write To Someone You Miss This Christmas” 

Read our very short story here in the press-

–Click–

 

About

Nine years ago my friend and I were in the pub discussing what it would be like to be homeless at Christmas, it was obviously a heartbreaking conversation… so we decided we didn’t want to be all talk and we agreed to put our money where our mouth is.

We were just two young guys in a Glasgow bar, normal people with normal lives and knew we could not solve any problems, but we thought we could do something surely!

So… on Christmas Eve we started handing out Christmas gift bags to the homeless, all with our own money and anonymously. Just having a chat and not leaving any contact details.

Sometimes leaving a gift bag beside them to find when they awoke.

But one of our original ideas has really blossomed! Our idea was, “Write To Someone You Miss This Christmas.”

Not only does a card go into every gift bag. But also an envelope with ‘a stamp attached’, it’s now reaching hundreds and hundreds of homeless people.

The wonderful ‘Social Bite’ help distribute them across Scotland.

‘Social Bite’, a chain of cafes that are a social business where 1 in 4 employees are ex homeless, help to get their our cards into the hands of homeless people in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Ewain Black of Social Bite said that: “Homeless at Christmas do great work. Their stamped Christmas cards were really warmly received.

Giving people a way to communicate, in a small way reduces the isolation that many feel at Christmas.”

Barbara Haig who handed out the cards in Edinburgh’s Social Bite explains: “For some it was quite an emotional experience because card writing was something they hadn’t done for a while. ALL were extremely grateful for the opportunity to send a message home. I would love to see if anyone is reunited or there is some form of re-connection made.”

This whole journey has been humbling and heart warming. And we hope family and friends enjoy hearing from them. You should not cease to exist – just because you are homeless.

Get in touch if you have sent a card, received a card or can help in any way.

“It’s amazing to think that one tiny idea and a wee stamp has the potential to change a life.”

Colin & Iain    x

“Write To Someone You Miss This Christmas”  

Contact Us

Say Hello!

Care @ Homeless at Christmas .org

Or CLICK on the envelope at the foot of the page.