Recent Work

Sunday 1st December 2024

A wet night, but our numbers still remain high. Thank you to Helen for making 10 litres of soup, which we serve while people queue patiently. We ensured everyone ate well and no one went away hungry. We had plenty of meal options, and some came back for second servings.

Tonight we discovered that some of the guys have found a space under a bridge where they are setting up their tents to keep dry and have thrown sleeping bags and clothes over the barriers surrounding them as wind breakers. On our way home, we witnessed the tents, and we know that shortly they will be moved on from their location.

We also noticed that our street homeless community all seem to be in a hurry to collect their meal and go find a safe dry doorway to bed down in.

Lots of people asking for dry sleeping bags, just worries us with the numbers we are seeing and so early into winter the number of sleeping bags we are having to provide. As extra layers, we are providing blankets where we can.

We recently had new blankets donated by a lady who has lost her son, and in his memory she wanted to support the homeless community. We plan to distribute these to people sleeping out in the cold in the early hours of the morning, so we know this special donation goes to those most in need. We will make a special trip out to do this. We can’t give people homes, but we can do what we can to keep them fed and warm.

This week we were asked to provide bedding to a woman recently housed, but she has very little in the house and she can’t afford heating. We provided bedding, pillows, and a duvet. The woman’s excitement was a little overwhelming; she constantly thanked us for making the trip to provide her with some bedding. We later discovered she doesn’t have a bed, and we are working with her key worker to provide her a bed.

It’s been another busy week; we just had to stop providing food parcels as we couldn’t keep up with the demand, so we decided to support several of our local food banks so we could signpost people.

The team has been out delivering meals into the homeless shelter in Leeds and Bradford every day this week.

This week one of the men’s hostels we have supported for several years asked, as their chest freezer has stopped working. Could we help? Tomorrow a new freezer will be delivered.

We would like to thank:

Thank you to Catherine for cooking up a hearty chicken casserole, always popular with our service users.

Thank you to Steve for his amazing continued support.

Thank you to the 2 Leeds Sikh temples for supporting us with meals.

Thank you to Punjabi Heaven for donating an abundance of food. We were able to fill take-away containers so people had meals to see them through for a few days. Your support is always appreciated.

Thank you to Singh Restaurant for helping us support the homeless hostels and the B&B’s accommodating our homeless community.

Thank you to The Back Room for donating us Pizza always favourite with everyone.

Thank you to our baker for the delicious cake and fruit crumbles, Kristen, Linz, Sharon, and the Burley brownies.

Thank you to Wheely Indian for donating samosas, spring rolls, and a vegetable biryani. The guys really appreciate it.

Thank you to Spauls butchers in Burley in Wharfdale for donating their very best sausages, which Jane and Kirsten cooked up with an onion gravy.

A special thank you to Margaret for cooking for us for the first time; your pasta bake was enjoyed by all.

Another special thank you to Jane, just a really special lady; she donated us desperately needed shower gels, and not only that, she organised a donation of deodorants from Unliver. We are humbly grateful to them both, and we are privileged to have Jane as a Homeless Hampers volunteer.

Thank you to Liz and Mal for donating us brand new joggers and socks these really are much needed, we and our homeless friends are grateful.

Thank you to Masato JONES for donating us 40 pairs of warm thermal socks.

A special mention to all the supermarkets, M&S, Sainsburys, and Morrisons for their amazing food donations.

Another special thank you to the library’s and the Chapel House pub that act as our collection points.

Not that we want anyone to be homeless but we do recognise there are so many more men.

Please consider donating mens Winter coats, Joggers, Hats, Gloves, Socks and Boxer Shorts.

For our ladies we just require underwear as we have plenty of ladies clothes.

Nothing needs to be new just in reasonable condition.

Our biggest thanks goes to the Homeless Hampers volunteers; each and every one of them is amazing, and we are privileged to have them as part of the Homeless Hampers family.

We are more than just team Hampers; we do what we do because we care.

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Hampers

Sunday 17th November 2024

A bitter chill in the air tonight; we did our best to warm people up; we provided extra layering as required, and we provided blankets and sleeping bags. One of our volunteers asked his mum, who is based in London, to arrange a collection of men’s coats, and he arrived with six bags full. This donation was greatly appreciated, especially on a night like tonight, and what was even nicer was we didn’t have to send anyone that needed one away.

Thank you to everyone that has donated hats and gloves; we could see the relief on people’s faces as they warm up. It’s natural for us to stand and complain about the cold for a few hours, but we know that we have warm homes to return to and the discomfort will end. Our thoughts and hearts are always with the people having no choice but to sleep in doorways and on cold pavement and, quite often, a few people in the same doorway snuggled up together to keep warm.

We saw several people sleeping under duvets in doorways; other people sat around them eating their meals, and then we quietly cleared up around them as they slept, and we left them a bag of snacks for a bit later.

We served piping hot food, as we do each week. We started the night by serving hot carrots and coriander soup so people warmed up as they queued. We served a range of curries, jacket potatoes, beans, and chicken stew. For dessert we provided hot rice pudding, which people absolutely love. We also served cake, crumble, and custard. Everyone really ate well, and some came back for seconds. No one went away hungry.

Thank you to the Sharma family for providing 30 snack packs, and thank you to the Bradford Hindu Mandir for providing 12 snack packs. Our team of foot with our trolleys distributed them to the individuals that did not make it over to the static kitchen.

Tonight we supported 182 people.

The This week we put food support into 9 homeless hostels in Leeds and Bradford. Thank you to our team that delivers the meals.

This week we have been able to support 4 food banks and community hubs with food donations, each of them giving us feedback to let us know the number of people we helped them to support.

This week we bought 20 new electric cookers that we will donate to our home community once they have been rehoused, as they are often moved into completely empty flats with nothing in them, not even carpets. We pledged to help them to build their new homes once we receive referrals from their support workers. We provide furniture and white appliances. We believe in giving people a chance and rebuilding their lives.

Thank you to our cooks and bakers:

Kirsten – chicken stew and crumble.

Jo, Saul and Elodie- Cakes

Sharon- cakes

Linz cakes

Emma—jacket potatoes and beans

Punjabi Heaven—curries and rice

Singhs Dhal and Rice for Homeless Hostels

Ramgarhira Board Sikh Temple – meals

Leeds 11 Sikh Temple – meals

Thank you to the supermarkets, Morrisons, Sainsburys, and M&S, for donating us non-perishable food as well as surplus waste food. We know these collections are late into the evenings, but we help them reduce landfill as we know there are people living in food poverty.

A special thank you to Janet Schofield for knitting hats for our community.

Thank you to the community of Burley in Wharfdale for a donation of coats, hats, socks, and toiletries and returning filled Christmas sacks.

Thank you to the people supporting and managing our drop-off points.

Thank you to everyone that sent us a financial donation.

Most importantly, thank you to our volunteer for giving us their valuable time.

Team Hampers

Sunday 3rd November 2024

Tonight people queued all the way around the corner, probably one of the longest queues we have experienced. The hustle and bustle of people continued all night. We just want to thank everyone for being so patient, as the team was amazing with the support they provided. Equally, we thank all our new volunteers for just fitting in and picking up the reins so quickly and just fitting in with the team.

Again, our team that walks around the city centre was kept busy but managed to support everyone they came across and managed to cover most of the city centre.

Tonight we served an individual that ate his food a little too quickly and ended up choking. His other homeless friends panicked watching him struggle and smacking him on the back. Fortunately, we have a team of first aiders that made their way across to him to help him dislodge the food stuck in his throat. He was relieved, and he and his friend continued to thank us.

We spoke to several men in particular tonight that have just had enough of sleeping on the street and can’t face another winter of sleeping rough. We feel helpless but will do our best to do what we can, but we know there are no immediate homes available for these people. One individual failed his last tenancy, so the list he has now been placed on is 6 years long; he feels he may not make it. We just stand in front of him trying to find comforting words and then just walk away feeling sadness.

As a rule, we don’t hand out tents. Firstly, we don’t want to be seen as encouraging people to sleep rough. Second, this is something we have never spoken about, but several years ago we learnt of a young lady being attacked in her tent. That incident remains with us to this day, and we took the decision to not provide tents. But of late, we are being asked more and more for tents. Is this a decision we need to reconsider as things become tougher?

Tonight we learnt how important it is for us to continue supporting our homeless hostels in Leeds and Bradford, as we had a lot of meals donated today, and we visited an extra hostel, and the support staff told us the residents will be happy as they have been asking for food all night. So thank you to our team of volunteers that deliver meals into the hostels in Leeds and Bradford.

We are privileged to be able to support the food banks we do, as in collaborative working we are able to refer people to these food banks.

We are privileged to support St. Anne’s with the breakfast club, as together we can ensure our homeless community receives a hot breakfast five mornings a week, especially in the winter months.

This week we continued to donate beds and bedding to families.

Our thank you’s:

Steve for cooking a spicy bean stew as well as donating non perishable food.

Thank you to the Otley Carnival Stars for baking an abundance of cakes and biscuits; you really spoilt the people using our service tonight.

Thank you to Jo and family for donating homemade cakes, which the guys love.

Thank you, Sharon, for your continued support and donations of cake.

Once again, thank you to Helen for her homemade tomato soup. It’s just amazing as it helps warm people up, will they queue, and helps tackle a bit of their hunger.

Thank you, Kirsten; we are really grateful for all your support. Your chicken stew went down a treat. Again, thank you for the crumble, which we served with piping hot custard.

Thank you to the Leeds 11 Sikh temple for supporting us with meals every week.

Thank you to Ramgahria Sikh Temple for donating an additional meal, which helped us support an additional homeless hostel.

As always, thank you to Punjabi Heaven for donating curry and rice; it was really warm and enjoyed by all.

Thank you to Singh Restaurant for helping us support the homeless hostels and the B&B’s accommodating our homeless community.

Incredibly busy and cold, but thank you to everyone that supported us tonight.

Humbled by the support of our volunteers tonight, you all helped us to have a 167 people.

Just a busy Hampers week

Sunday 20th October 2024

The dark nights are really difficult, and tonight people were coming at us from all ends. The team did a brilliant job coordinating the queue. At the static kitchen, we supported 136 people, and our team that walked around the city supported 58 incredibly busy night.

A young lady we have supported for many years arrived as we set up really hungry, so rather than make her queue, we served her first. Witnessing the way she ate her meal, it showed she hadn’t eaten for a day or two. We know that this young lady will never not be homeless due to the trauma in her life; she’s been in care homes all her life and then a long life of sleeping rough. Regardless of her pass, she holds a very special place in our hearts, and we have a really soft spot for her. Equally, she is very protective of us. We have nothing but compassion for her.

Another individual again, a really lovely soul, always polite and respectful, and always wants a hug. He needed a coat and sleep bag. We worry about him as he is wheelchair bound. We found him the warmest coat, a hat, a scarf, and gloves. We helped him put on his coat, and he was pleased as he felt warm. He tells us he will be in a flat in two weeks; that’s the best news.

Some of the guys just really wanted to talk tonight, and it was nice to give them the time they needed. This individual was just deflated, and he is willing to take any support anyone would offer him. He felt the system is broken, and once he finds himself in a better place, he wants to work and build the broken relationship with his family. Again, he’s been homeless for several years. It was interesting listening to his point of view and how he felt the services could support him better and actually made a lot of sense due to his lived experience.

It’s been a busy week; this week we provided a double bed and fresh bedding to a gentleman.

We provided carpet for a young mother that has moved into a flat with her 2-year old child.

We provided a TV for a lady living in a homeless hostel, which she will take with her once she’s rehoused.

We were contacted by a lady accommodated in a hotel with her young son, struggling for food and having no cooking facilities. We put her in touch with a service that can support them both long-term. She visited us tonight to thank us, and we filled her bags with snacks just to get them by.

This we week supported 2 food banks and provided breakfast for the St Anne’s breakfast club.

All this was in collaboration, and we welcomed the support of the following:

Thank you to our teams that deliver meals into the homeless hostels and B&Bs in Leeds and Bradford.

Steve for cooking a spicy bean stew as well as donating non perishable food.

We now have several people baking delicious cakes and desserts for us. Thank you, Sharon, Jo, Elodie, Kerstin, and Linz; you really do put a lot of smiles on people’s faces.

Thank you to Brenda from Wrose Hill Chapel for all their home baking and donations of cakes.

Thank you, Catherine. We are really grateful for all your support. Your chicken stew went down a treat.

Thank you to Helen for her delicious homemade soup; the guys in the queue really appreciated it on a chilly night.

Thank you again to Monica for her homemade pepper and tomato soup. The team handed out the soup to people bedded down in the shop doorways.

Thank you to the Leeds 11 Sikh temple for supporting us with meals every week and just as important donating much needed disposable cups, containers, and cutlery.

As always, thank you to Punjabi Heaven for donating Dahl and Rice, which were really warm and enjoyed by all.

Thank you to Singh Restaurant for helping us support the homeless hostels and the B&B’s accommodating our homeless community.

Thank you to Store Manager Mazafar Hussain Bradford Tesco Express and Nsar

Bradford Otley Baildon Road Tesco Express for their donations of tinned, packet, and non perishable food, which will support us with our emergency food parcels.

Can we now take the time to thank everyone that has donated warm clothes, especially men’s coats. We wish we could mention you all individually.

Thank you to the Leeds Male Voice Choir for their donations of hats, gloves, socks, toiletries, confectionery, savoury snacks, and biscuits.

We would like to thank the staff and children at Summerfield Primary School for their collection of food for the Harvest Festival, which was all donated to Homeless Hampers. Equally, we humbly thank Burley Oaks Primary School, Burley in Wharfedale, for their amazing donation of non-perishable food.

St John’s in Menston collected £57 as part of their harvest festival celebration; we thank them for their kind donation.

Thank you to Johnson Hotel Linen for donating fresh bedding, duvets, and pillows; they always keep us well supplied. We distribute clean bedding to the hostels and to people moving into new homes and new beds.

Thank you to Alpkits for sending us 12 per owned sleeping bags that were handed in by their customers. We are glad these didn’t go into landfill.

A huge thank you to our volunteers for making each week possible; all your hard work is always appreciated. So often the people we support make the same comments, especially on nights like tonight.

Homeless Hampers a completely grassroots charity, hundreds percent run by volunteers, people are at the heart of our charity work.

Sunday 6th October 2024

The heavens did open on us tonight; people queuing were soaked through, and the team was drenched, but they remained in good spirits. We supported 111 people tonight.

Some of the homeless community were a bit unhappy with having to queue in the rain; we know it’s not us they are getting at us; it’s their circumstances, especially when they have to sleep out in this with wet clothes.

The first item that we completely ran out of tonight was men’s coats. We are heading towards winter, and we have very few men’s coats. We are desperate for men’s winter coats.

There was a new face in our queue tonight. We worked his way through the queue, ate his meal, and then came and stood under our gazebo. We asked him to move along as other people were waiting to be served. He became a bit hostile just for a few seconds, but something didn’t feel right, so we asked what he wanted, and he said just a hot coffee. Which we provided, he then told us he had only been homeless for 6 months, and he’s between two cities but struggling to get support in either. He became tearful, and we could see his struggle was real and he wanted to give up. We knew the right thing to do was to get him out of the cold, wet weather for tonight so we offered to pay for a hotel bed, but he refused as he knew there are others in the queue that are in the same position as he is in, but tonight we felt his need was greater. We finally talked him around by saying go have a warm shower and sleep in a dry, warm bed, and then tomorrow try again to access the support you need. He finally agreed; we packed him up warm dry clothes and our last coat, and we noticed he had a child’s rucksack; we replaced it with a larger backpack, and he gave us a tearful hug. There are some individuals that really touch us, and he was the one tonight; even coming away tonight made us feel worried for him.

We helped a family set up their new home this week. They have lived in temporary accommodation for some time; dad actually helped transport the furniture and appliances. The smile on his face was just magical as he saw his new home come together. Dad has offered to volunteer with us and offered to do all our heavy lifting. We really appreciate his offer, and it would be our privilege to have him volunteer with us.

This week we managed to offer food support to 3 food banks and 5 homeless hostels in Leeds and Bradford.

We provided breakfast items to the St Anne’s breakfast club and pizza for their Friday lunch club, a nice treat for the guys.

Who made our week possible:

Thank you to Karen for cooking up a hearty chicken casserole and a pasta bake always popular with our service users.

Thank you to Steve for his amazing continued support.

Thank you to the 2 Leeds Sikh temples for supporting us with meals.

Thank you to Punjabi Heaven for donating an abundance of food. We were able to fill takeaway containers so people had meals to see them through for a few days, your support is always appreciated.

Thank you to Singh Restaurant for helping us support the homeless hostels and the B&B’s accommodating our homeless community.

Thank you to Waddow Hall Trust for boxed cakes and cupcakes, and thank you, Sharon, for organising the collection.

Thank you to The Ilkley Kitchen Paneer Rolls. Really Indian Flapjacks—Tricky Dickies Sticky Toffee Pudding, quiches, and some pastries

A special mention to all the supermarkets, M&S, Sainsburys, and Morrisons, for their amazing food donations.

Another special thank you to the libraries that act as our collection points.

Thank you to the community of Burley in Wharfdale. Your donation has been really focused around the items we require urgently.

Together we will make a difference.