Recent Work

Sunday 11th January 2026

The weather has been quite unpredictable, so to ensure the safety of our volunteers, we decided to reduce the scale of our outreach. Although we considered cancelling, we knew people would be waiting for us, regardless of the weather. As expected, it wasn’t as busy as our usual Sunday night, but 82 people came to us for a meal. This week, we pre-packed meals, including a main course, dessert, and a hot drink. We explained the provisions due to the weather, encouraging people to return to their hostels, tents, or any dry places, and we wanted to get out of the wet and cold as soon as possible. People were incredibly grateful for our support, as we could have easily cancelled. With 11 local volunteers, we managed the queue efficiently, ensuring no one left hungry.

It’s been a busy week as we’ve been helping arrange additional winter beds. We provided furniture and a washing machine for a new ladies’ house and will continue supporting with food donations so they can cook meals. Visiting the house was heartwarming, seeing the excitement on their faces and hearing them talk about their future.

We donated breakfast items to St Anne’s, ensuring our street homeless can access a hot breakfast. Given the wet and cold conditions, we provided shower gels and washing powder so people can enjoy a hot shower at the resource centre and wash their clothes and sleep bags.

We would like to express our gratitude to our local authority for their tireless efforts to get as many of our homeless community into shelters, even if temporary. It’s important that people are off the streets, dry, and warm until the weather improves. We understand resources are limited, but working together for the good of our community is the only way we can make a difference.

Once again, we thank everyone who supports us each week. We are grateful to our selfless volunteers for dedicating their valuable time to make a difference in the lives we touch.

Homeless Hampers

Sunday 14th December 2025

We have had a busy few weeks, but this time of year is always our busiest.

The winter months bring extra challenges for the street homeless community, and the demand on our charity is immense. Every week, we receive calls from people who have become homeless and are seeking support. We hear from individuals who simply can’t afford to eat and are looking for food assistance. Smaller food banks and community hubs also reach out to us for donations, so they can continue to support their communities. This week, we donated ten food hampers to a women’s support group, allowing them to provide meals to the women they serve over the Christmas holidays when everything is closed. We also continue to offer breakfast support to St Anne’s every week, ensuring our home community has access to a hot breakfast each morning.

On Sunday nights, the number of people we support remains steady, with between 150-180 individuals accessing our services. Not all of them are homeless; some simply can’t afford to eat. We provide them with food, clothes, and other essentials.

One of our regular female visitors came to us requesting clean clothing. Her very large backpack was packed to capacity, and she had acquired a shopping trolley filled with her belongings. When we asked how she managed to carry all that weight, her response touched our hearts: “Fail to prepare means prepare to fail.” She always prepares to get a good night’s sleep, like she does every week. She takes her food, sits across the road from us, eats, cleans up, disposes of her rubbish, and then walks over to thank us for being there. Sometimes, she even gives us a hug.

This week, we met a young man who became homeless after his mother passed away 11 months ago. He is currently facing other challenges in life. He sat in front of us, sobbing and repeating that he can’t continue with life. We listened and comforted him, but he was finding street life extremely difficult. It turned out he hadn’t slept for three nights, so we decided to pay for a hotel for three nights. Initially, he declined, knowing that after the three nights, he would end up back on the streets. Eventually, he accepted our offer. We spoke to him over the weekend to complete a welfare check, and he was very grateful and in a completely different mindset, making plans about the future. Sometimes, we recognise that our homeless community just needs a bit of respite off the streets, a warm, soft place to sleep, and access to a hot shower.

We continue to support homeless shelters with food support and meals. We also support food banks and community kitchens with food donations.

We thank:

– Catherine for cooking hot meals each week.

– Steve for the spicy bean casserole.

– Kirsten for cakes, crumbles, and custard.

– Shelly for providing custard to accompany our delicious range of cakes.

– Jane for the pasta bakes.

– Jo, Saul, Mand, and Linz for the apple crumbles and cake.

– Dawn for her wonderful baking enjoyed by all, as well as all the additional donations.

– Punjabi Heaven for donating vegetable curry and rice and chicken rolls.

– Singh restaurant for donating 35 meals to homeless hostels and B&Bs.

– Thank you to Crusty’s for their donation of water and sweet treats each week.

– Thank you to Mandeep and Harpal for donating a haul of much-needed soft drinks.

Thank you to the Bradford Hindu Council for their continued support with hot meals and snack packs.

– We are humbly grateful to everyone who continues to support our work week in and week out.

– We thank all the Homeless Hampers volunteers for giving us their valuable time.

We can’t do all we do without you all. Thank you to each of you for your support and encouragement to keep us going. Always humbly grateful.

Sunday 28th September 2025

Tonight, the night feels heavy with the weight of those who have no place to call home. The restless murmurs of our homeless community echo through the streets, their anxiety palpable as they fear the possibility of going hungry. We assure them, with a heavy heart, that they will not be left without food, offering them a variety of meals that bring fleeting moments of joy, like the simple pleasure of crumble and custard.

Our numbers have swelled to 200 in the food queues, and the relentless ringing of our phone is a constant reminder of the desperate need for food support. We urge those with homes to seek help from local food banks and community hubs, as we strive to support these places with donations.

Even our dedicated volunteers, who distribute clothes, sleeping bags, and other necessities, face challenges tonight. The sight of people with unsuitable footwear and no coats is a stark reminder of the harsh realities they endure.

We encountered a new face, a lady struggling to walk and wait in the long queue. She sat on the steps, and as we approached, we learned she had traveled to Leeds two weeks ago from the south of the country, seeking help after leaving her flat due to trouble. With winter approaching, her struggle is heart-wrenching, and all we can do is refer her to the local authority, hoping they will offer assistance or send her home.

Another individual, new to us, became homeless due to a relationship breakdown two weeks ago. He stood crying, overwhelmed by the difficulty of sleeping rough and having not eaten for two days. His despair was evident when he stated that the best option might be if he were dead. This statement is always alarming. We fed him and called emergency services to seek support.

One of our regular street homeless individuals came to us with open and infected sores on his hands. The team cleaned his hands, applied new dressings, and urged him to seek emergency medical attention immediately.

We collected surplus food from Marks & Spencer, allowing those with homes to take it back and cook it, providing some relief for a few days. We continue to supply food to homeless hostels in Leeds and Bradford, ensuring those accommodated there are fed, and we support our regular food bank.

Despite our efforts to take one day a week off, we were called out to a homeless man begging outside a supermarket. We spent time talking to him, learning about his two-year struggle with street homelessness after his house burned down and his mother passed away the same year. He suffers from mental health issues, and we made a referral to services for immediate assistance on Monday morning. We offered him a bed and breakfast, which he declined, choosing to remain in his tent until he speaks to someone on Monday, as he has collected a lot of belongings over the years. Before leaving, we asked if there was anything we could get him, and he simply asked for something sweet. We fulfilled his request and will follow up to ensure he receives the support he needs.

These past few weeks have been incredibly busy, and we have supported six people with furniture and appliances for their new homes. Yet, the sadness lingers, a reminder of the ongoing struggle faced by so many.

Thank you to Catherine for the beef chilli.

Thank you to Karen for the apple crumble and rice.

Thank you to Nigel for cooking up a hearty sausage casserole, enjoyed by all.

Thank you to Punjabi Heaven hot meals 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 Linz, Sharon, Linz Jo, Saul and Elodie for their delicious home baking.

Thank you to Dina, Dharmesh and the Bradford Hindu Council for donating meals and Snack packs.

Thank you to Dawn for the bags of cookies apples, lots of fruit going into our baking at the moment.

Thank you to Bal for donating soft, drinks, sweet and savoury snacks.

Again thank you to the Otley stars for baking a delicious selection of cakes.

Thank you to Nandos for the weekly donation of chicken.

Thank you to Katie for supplying us with meat and poultry.

Thank you to Greggs for all their support.

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

OUR APPEAL

* Suitable clothing as per our poster only

* Sleeping bags

* Ruck sacks

* Soft drinks

* Sweet and savoury snacks

* Non perishable food

* Tinned food

* Cereal

* Pasta

* Rice

* Sugar

Thank you to Team Hampers that make every week possible and all your hard work 7 days a week.

Sunday 31st August 2025

Every week, we hear from someone either really struggling or ending up homeless. Today, we took a call from an individual who became homeless two weeks ago and had been sleeping in his car with his dog. He’s cold on a night and hungry, and we asked him to visit us in the city centre to see what support we could put in place. He repeatedly thanked us for providing him with a hot meal, which caused us some concern at the pace he ate it. We offered to make a referral for an emergency bed tonight, but he insisted he couldn’t be without his dog. So, we signposted him to where he can present first thing in the morning to be supported. For tonight, we layered him up and provided warm food. This isn’t an isolated case of people sleeping in vehicles; several years ago, we had an elderly man who had suffered a marriage breakdown and slept in his van for several years.

Towards the end of the night we spoke to a gentleman who’s been attending with his elderly mother for several weeks and we originally assumed they are housed but struggling to make ends meet, but after speaking to them we learnt they are living in hotel rooms, we found this heart breaking and worrying as winter is around the corner and the thought of an eighty year old woman waiting in our food queue for hot meal upsets us. For one reason or another or perhaps just their pride they weren’t forthcoming with the reason they are in this situation nor need the want to take up the offer of extra support, we let them know we are here for them and not to join the queue we will give them priority so they are not waiting in the long queue and the offer of further support is always there.

We ensured at the end of the night all our volunteers left and got to their car safely as we climbed into the van to set off ourselves we witnessed an individual eating from the bin, we went over to him and asked him to not eat out of the bin took him to a shop locally and let him choose what he wanted.

Tonight we saw the darker night drawing in and a little chill. Once again winter is just around the corner, we are desperately appealing for practical men’s clothes for our street homeless community. The this year we are also asking for your old unwanted sleeping bags, we attended the Leeds fest to salvage some sleeping bags as the last salvage from the festival saw us out through two years. This year we only had access to one field and only managed to collect 33 sleeping bags, which will not last long. We only require men’s clothes and only in smaller sizes and only what is listed on our poster.

Our home support continues, with two more recently housed individuals supported in their new home with furniture and white appliances. This is the result that makes everything we do worth our time and effort.

Our support into the food banks for St Anne’s and the Homeless Hostels continues in Leeds and Bradford.

We may be biased, but we have amazing support and an absolutely amazing team, and each one of them plays a valuable part in making all we do possible.

Our humble thank you’s go to:

* Catherine

* Steve’s 14 year old granddaughter for baking

* The Bachu family

* The Bharma family

* Jo, Saul and Elodie

* Sharon

* Punjabi Heaven

* Singhs

* Greggs

* Waitrose

* M&S

* Sainsburys

Special thank you to Margaret and her friend for donating £50 as they wanted to share some of their premium bond winnings.

We are really grateful to everyone that continues to make monetary donations. The nights are really cold, and this is the time of year we fund hotel beds just to give our friends sleeping rough a couple of nights of respite from sleeping out in the cold. So thank you for helping us make this possible.

We again include our poster for clothing items required. Please support us if you can.

Homelessness isn’t just the absence of a home. It’s the loss of safety, dignity, and hope. Every little we do hopefully gives some faith.

#BECAUSEWECARE