General Chat

nudge

Well done Shirley for all your efforts and for bringing this back up. I know there are a lot of lonely people at christmas especially the elderly. Most of them ar on their own throughout the year but when everybody is having fun with their families there christmas is just another day. Idid start helping one old lady last year doing her shopping and having a cup of tea with her so she has a bit of company. She is poorly at the moment and another gentleman friend is looking after her.

Little lost, i hope the lady you befriended makes a speedy recovery. thank you for adding to this thread. Shirley Ann.

thank you Linda for nudging.After reading through this again i realise why i am now in my 16th year at the centre,how could i leave when so many families need help. Shirley Ann.

Glad to see this thread again. It's so easy to forget those without when we sit at home with the heating on. I'm currently trying to help a 24 yr old homeless lad in our town. He's been living in a tent and has problems with reading and writing, very low self esteem as you can imagine. Our local council have nothing to offer............not even a hostel. Poor lad checks every week and there's nothing. Both parents are dead though he has got a brother who from time to time will give him a bed and dinner (at a cost !) We fill in the gaps and let him stay, have a bath, hot meal etc. He's reluctant to ask for help and bottles his troubles up inside. As a result he was recently involved in a fight (nothing major - basically a scrap between two chaps) but he was in court last week and the local papers had a field day ! He's now referred to a the local Tramp !! That's the press for you. He's been so upset about it and who can blame him.He was no more at fault than the other lad involved but he has a stable home -no headlines there ! Makes my blood boil to think that anyone in this day and age should be without a roof over their heads. Right..........off soap box now. Keep up the good work.

nudge

Shirley..... There but for the Grace of God go any one of us... You know my feelings on this. You do a wonderful job Shirley. Lots of Love Maisie xx

Nudge.... Cos it's freezing.. We are all nice and warm.

HUGE NUDGE,COZ IT SHOULD BE,KEEP UP THE WORK TWINNY,YOUR A STAR.HUGS,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxme

Thanks for nudging. Mary your story tells it all, makes me so mad there is never any help for these young men its a cruel and unfair world that we live in and the system stinks. Poor lad, it is good of you to help him. It is getting colder at night ,it must be dreadful sleeping in a tent. When you think about it even animals are taken in out of the fields over night, yet these young people are left out in the cold. Shirley Ann.

I went into the city today and under the subway I saw a chap I have seen and helped before, with his dog. The dog was wrapped up in a blanket, it is cold in the subway and sitting on a concrete floor can't be nice. This chap is always pleasant and polite and when I saw him in the summer he looked so ill, he told me he has a leaking heart valve and needs an op. I spoke to him today and he said his op is Jan 16th. He had scraped some money together a while ago and got a privately rented flat as the council didn't help him, but he said the council had not paid his benefit properly to the landlord and today when he got home, his locks had been changed, so he was begging to try and get £35 together which his landlord had told him he needed to let him back into the flat. This chap,Greg, had been to the council and other places, being referred to one and then another office, and had been to DSS for a crisis loan, but they wouldn't help, the council just told him the landlord would get his money next week. I went to the Poundshop and got the last man's hat they had as he only had on a baseball cap and there were no gloves left, all the other shops were shut, so I got him a scarf so he could wrap his hands in it or put it round his neck and I got the dog some food too. He was so chuffed when I went back with the things and I do hope he got back into the flat, he said if he loses the flat, he will lose his op date too. I cannot believe the way these people are treated, all he needs is a chance.

Awww Purple P. what a lovely person you are to do that. I do hope that Greg managed to get back in to his flat bless him. I cannot believe that they (DHSS) did not put this as a priority with him being out on the street again... It is very very cold and pouring with rain here tonight----- I cannot bear to think of people being out in these elements, and as I always say.. 'There but got The Grace Of God' go any of us. Maisie

Liz, i have just managed to read about Greg, it just proves what i said earlier , that there is no help out there for a lot of men, and they are turned away from the council, refered here and there and still don't get any help. it makes my blood boil. If you would like to mail me i would gladly donate towards his rent this chap should no way be sleeping out in this weather. Shirley Ann.

Saw Greg again today in the underpass, he was wearing the hat I got him, which pleased me. His dog is all snuggled in a blanket with a set of antlers on his head, it makes the children laugh when they go by and hopefully their parents put in a penny or two. He is back in his flat and was trying to get some money for his electricity, so he could have his heating on as if the electricity goes the pump won't work on the heating. He told me he is on Invalidity benefit but has to pay part of his rent and his council tax and all his bills. I have a contact number for him now so I can call him when I find a bag of spare clothes o.h. grew too fat for, and drop them in to him. Hope when he has had his op in January he will get well enough to make a better life for himself. Liz

I got your mail Liz,thanks. I hope everyone gives these people a thought as not all choose to be homeless. Shirley Ann.

So nice to hear that Greg is back in his flat. I wish him Good Health, Peace, and Happiness in it. God Bless Him Love Maisie

a very important thread,there will be many homeless,it can happen to anyone,x

Thanks for your good wishes, I will pass them on to him. Today I spoke to a reporter from our local paper, a few weeks ago he did a stint as a homeless person to report how it felt and he is interested in Greg's story so will contact him, and see if he can tell it in the paper, it might get him some more help.

nx

n x