Night for the Homeless December 2014

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world.

For, indeed that’s all who ever had.

Margaret Mead

Our Dec 2014 Super TeamOn 20 December 2014 a team of 20 people took to the streets of Central London to spread light to

the homeless who had to spend Christmas without family or a place to call home.

In 4 hours we reminded 100 homeless people that they are not forgotten regardless of their social background, race, religion or nationality.

The team: Donald, Banita, Joanna, Brigitte, Nicole, Karen, Ed, Alice, Ben The Super Chef, Ashley, Dominic, Jozef, Naheed, John, Helena, Yaqub, Don, Mick, Attique , Hassan and Mikkel.

£5585 raised in 30 days

More than 100 people contributed to our campaign.

Enough funds were raised to ensure we can do two nights over winter. Next event being planned for February 2015.

100 gift packages prepared

Gift packs contained- A home cooked meal, cake, drink and snack bar- Thermal socks, pair of gloves and a sweater- £30 gift card to Argos- Christmas messages of light and hope

A wise man in Pimlico

Down in Pimlico we met Ed who was over the moon as a stranger had left a brand new scarf for him earlier. Ed’s life had crumbled when his partner passed away. If you ever need a piece of advice I suggest you go see Ed. He talked to us about the Japanese unemployment rate, the social security system in Sweden, the cost of living in

Norway and Abba’s refusal to use their song to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. He was an ex-military man as we left he asked us to say a prayer that the people in Pakistan and Afghanistan may find peace

soon. If you want more substance in your life…turn off the TV and go talk to Ed.

Love thy neighbour

It seems we’ve been made to believe it is human nature to be greedy and therefore it is OK. When you walk streets it is obvious that it is not so. Those who have the least tend to look after each other and share the spoils. Alice met this Romanian man and he was desperately trying to explain where his friend was sleeping at Victoria

station to ensure the friend would not miss out on food, clothing and gifts. It is time for us to take a lesson in compassion from those who fight to survive each day.

Mayfair Lady

Style…some people are born with it. Going up to Hyde Park we bumped into an old friend at the bus stop. We met this lovely lady last year when she told us her life story about how she fell from Mayfair high life to street life. She currently lives in a Bed and Breakfast but still finds each day a struggle. We gave her a gift and offered her a pair of gloves. She took a black pair…but then saw we had a stripy pair and was in no doubt which pair to pick. It was

so great to learn our old friend now has a roof over her head.

Expect less, receive more

The more you expect something the less joy you tend to get from it. Those living on the streets expect nothing from those passing by…so when they received our food, clothing and gifts it was a moment of pure joy.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words…check out the joy in this Big Issue seller’s eyes as he tucked into Ben’s delicious home cooked food. “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates

profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” Lao Tzu

Excuse me what is the time?

We met Raj sitting in a sleeping bag at Victoria station surrounded by books. He was calm, clever and soft spoken. Raj is stuck on the street as he has lost his ID. When he gets a new one issued…then he can get social security. He’d been on the street for 8 months and thankfully felt that most treated him with dignity. But he said certain

situations annoy him…the day before he had been asking passers-by for the time and it took 10 mins before someone responded. We must ensure we treat those have fallen on hard times as equals because homeless

doesn’t mean less human.

This is life on the streets

This lovely guy was from Hull with a nice friendly accent. He talked about the way that he has been treated, the fact that he was told after 6 months that he would be housed in some way and that 8.5 had gone by and nothing, he had his phone all charged up and ready for the call, although he held out little hope. He was so chuffed with the voucher joyfully replying "I NEED A NEW SLEEPING

BAG" he only took what he needed from us and nothing more. He said he wanted to get a smart phone so he could chat to his kids on Facebook, that was the shock for me, how can this happen when he has kids? He said since being in London he had been set on

fire, pissed on while sleeping and much more. But he was sound, level headed and as was mostly the case keen to talk. He has a tiny Christmas tree next to him, he said proudly it's real! It was given to him by a some men who wrapped up a match box with £40 inside and left it for him while he slept. A lot of ordinary people are kind it seems, and stories of giving like this one were told by many that

evening.

Magic in the air

In December 2014 we met a really nice homeless man and as soon as he saw the £30 gift card he said “I’m going to get a new sleeping bag”. I happened to meet this man 15 mins later and he came running to me and said “Right after you left me a stranger walked up to me and offered me a brand new sleeping bag…he is on his way to collect it from his house”.

In February 2014 I met an elderly man selling Big Issues the morning after our event. I had a chat with him and gave him a gift envelope. After explaining how he could use the gift card to buy things and he started pointing towards the sky saying..God God! He told me his belongings had been stolen the night before…all he had left was a small rucksack. He said I had been sent to help him. He broke into tears, hugged me and we said our goodbyes

In our last two “Night for the Homeless” events there have two incidents that can only be described as extraordinary. Don’t know what you make of these events…pure coincidence or meant to be magic!

…and so many other real life stories

"There is the sky which is all men's together"Euripides

We are eternally grateful to all who made this event happen by:

• Donating• Preparing the event• Cooking food• Sourcing gifts• Walking the streets• Spreading the word

ContactMikkel Juel Iversenmikkel.jueliversen@dignityentertainment.comTwitter: @Mikkel_Dignity