VOLUNTEERS for a charity which supports homeless people are going one step further, and spending the night on the streets.
Helping Hands Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth support some 30 people a month with donations of food, clothes and furniture.
They also run the twice-weekly soup kitchen in Leamington.
To raise awareness and funds for the charity, 15 of its volunteers are sleeping rough on Friday (October 23).
They will also be joined by filmmaker Alex Harvey who has spent time documenting the struggles of homeless people in the district.
Lianne Kirkman, who runs Helping Hands, said: “We have a great team of volunteers willing to sleep out in order to raise awareness of homelessness in our area.
“We are raising funds so we can increase our services to our soup kitchen clients. We don’t just want to give hand outs, we want to provide services to give them a hand up and out of their current circumstances.”
The charity are also hoping to make enough money to afford a new premises after their former one – a referee hut at Racing Club Warwick Football Club ground – was demolished as it was no longer fit for purpose.
The charity also want to buy an extra van as the current one is used to collect donations and to distribute soup.
Donations have recently been given by a number of local businesses and Warwick Rotary, boosting the charity’s coffers to nearly £2,000.
But Lianne says they still need more to improve services and make the changes needed.
Visit www.gofundme.com/helpinghandslwk to find out more or to donate.
