A group of lads from Manchester has embarked on a mission to help the city’s homeless that has been supported by hundreds of local people in just a few weeks.
Cold Hands Warm Hearts was set up earlier this year, with the aim of making sure no rough sleepers in Manchester are going hungry or without essentials.
Co-founder Jamie Lilley says the group offers a personal touch, meeting needs that other organizations in the area don’t offer.
But there’s a significant hurdle they need to get over to be able to expand further – it has to raise thousands of pounds to be able to obtain a formal charity number.
The organization was set up when Jamie’s friend Daniel Goodier read a Manchester Evening News article, regarding the tragedy of a young man who died sleeping rough in the doorway of an M&S in Manchester city center aged just 25.
“He rang me and we agreed we wanted to see what we could do to help,” Jamie said.
Towards the beginning of the third coronavirus lockdown, the three men chipped in £30 each for some pizzas from Domino’s and went out on a cold winter’s evening where they were stunned by the scenes in the city center.
“We went to Market Street and honestly it was shocking how many people were there,” Jamie told the Manchester Evening News.
“It was around 10pm and there must have been around fifty to sixty people sleeping rough who we went and fed pizzas to.
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“We got speaking to quite a lot of them, finding out their names and how long they’ve been homeless and just what they feel they need.
“A lot of them were saying they needed hand warmers, lots of them had big holes in their sleeping bags. It was a real eye-opener.”
He spoke of one rough sleeper who appeared to be suffering from the harsh cold early in February.
“I spoke to a gentleman who had his hands under his jacket and I asked him if he was okay,” he explained.
“He showed me his hands and they looked like the elephant man. They had massive black lumps all over them and big sores.
“He told me it was frostbite – I’ve seen it on films and never expected to see it on someone on the streets of Manchester. It really made it hit home.”
Jamie says lockdown is likely to have added to the rough sleepers’ anguish, as the number of people in the city center to give them food or donations has fallen dramatically.
“You felt a bit sick inside knowing that you’re going back to a warm house and they’re outside – so we both instantly said we want to start doing it often,” he added.
The trio sensed the desperation of the people they met on the streets and decided to recruit more volunteers.
After creating social media pages to raise awareness, the organization quickly grew, as local businesses got involved and their team increased to 18 people.
In the space of a week, more than 1,200 people were following their Facebook page.
“We went out the next night giving out more food and started to put out posts online, with an Amazon wish list for essentials and asked people for any unwanted coats,” Jamie said.
“The response was unbelievable – I think we ended up with 80 coats, loads of people bought us gloves, hats, blankets, and sleeping bags, and one of our local takeaways got involved offering hot food to take down.
“A pizzeria in Middleton offered us 15 pizzas every Monday and Thursday – lots of businesses have been offering donations.
“We also made some food like potato hash in trays and took those down.
“It’s grown in the space of four weeks to 18 of us, all wearing masks and gloves and socially distancing.”
Now, the charity has a schedule where they hand out food and essentials such as sanitary pads and clothes twice a week.
Jamie says the group has given out 90 pizzas, over 120 pot noodles, 74 packed lunches, and more than 30 trays of potato hash in the space of three weeks.
“In under a month we went from basically nothing to growing to a team of 18, with a storage unit, and hundreds of donations,” he added.
