Monday, 21 January 2013

Snow Days: Help the Homeless Sleeping Rough


Today was a snow day at my school, so I stayed at home and had a (very productive!) duvet day. The bottom line is: I was warm and comfortable inside my house, under my duvet with cups of tea and central heating on.

It did make me think about those less fortunate, who might even be homeless, having to brave the elements with none of these comforts. It made me shudder to think about having to sit/sleep out in the snow, but the unfortunate truth is that there were many homeless people who had no other choice but to brave the elements.

I read a story today about how failures by two councils led to a homeless 16-year-old boy being forced to spend nine months living in a tent, sleeping rough and having to sell his belongings to survive. This situation was not even rectified when the snow came and the teenager had to sleep in his tent even in these sub zero conditions!

It absolutely broke my heart and left me thinking that there must be something that can be done and somewhere that a destitute teenager can turn to and actually be helped! I stumbled upon an organization called St Mungo’s, which has an initiative where you can tell them about a rough sleeper. They also have a website called Street Concern, which is St Mungo’s outreach service supporting people who are rough sleeping in London (Westminster, Ealing and Southwark), Bristol, and Reading. This site is useful for people wanting to help the homeless, or for people who are homeless and want to ask for help.

So, if you see someone sleeping rough, you can buy them a cup of tea/coffee and some hot food, maybe even a blanket, and then report them to an organization like St Mungo’s who can and will help!

Blessings!

Ronell x

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” {Isaiah 1v17}







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