[Albion] Where can I drop off sleeping bags for homeless ?

[Springal]

That's a bit mean.

It really isn't meant to be, but just find it a bit odd.

 

[GOM]

An admirable attempt. It would seem that not all homeless/rough sleepers want help though. A council near us last night reported this

.....'Council officers and the commissioned street outreach service carried out, between 10pm and 1am last night, a street sweep of the full city centre and outer areas where people are known to have been................................. 8 people were found on the streets either begging or bedded down. Two are known to have accommodation and the other 6 refused accommodation. '

 

[biddles911]

An admirable attempt. It would seem that not all homeless/rough sleepers want help though. A council near us last night reported this

.....'Council officers and the commissioned street outreach service carried out, between 10pm and 1am last night, a street sweep of the full city centre and outer areas where people are known to have been................................. 8 people were found on the streets either begging or bedded down. Two are known to have accommodation and the other 6 refused accommodation. '

If they do, I’ve found an app called Streetlink which enables you to let the local council/charities know there’s a homeless person who may need help.....


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[Tom Hark Preston Park]

An admirable attempt. It would seem that not all homeless/rough sleepers want help though. A council near us last night reported this

.....'Council officers and the commissioned street outreach service carried out, between 10pm and 1am last night, a street sweep of the full city centre and outer areas where people are known to have been................................. 8 people were found on the streets either begging or bedded down. Two are known to have accommodation and the other 6 refused accommodation. '

The 6 who refused accommodation need sectioning for their own protection shirley?

 

[pearl]

It’s payday and I was filling up my car with petrol, must have taken about 2 mins and I was freezing my nuts off !! A social conscience came over me, so knowing Halfords are currently selling sleeping bags for £5 each, I bought 4. Can’t find on line where I can drop them off. It’s my bit of do gooding just in case there is a heaven I can point to this small act of charity and get eternal life, job done.

Serious question.

well, maybe your next life will be a Great Tit or something?

 

[The Large One]

Always found it odd that people 'do nice things' and feel the need to tell everyone. But different people etc..

Not odd in the slightest. He was encouraging others to do the same.

 

[Mackenzie]

It’s payday and I was filling up my car with petrol, must have taken about 2 mins and I was freezing my nuts off !! A social conscience came over me, so knowing Halfords are currently selling sleeping bags for £5 each, I bought 4. Can’t find on line where I can drop them off. It’s my bit of do gooding just in case there is a heaven I can point to this small act of charity and get eternal life, job done.

Serious question.

Sounds like a scene in Handcock's Half Hour.

Well done though.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

The 6 who refused accommodation need sectioning for their own protection shirley?

Those that refuse are probably worried about exactly this outcome. I reckon they need re-assurance their choices will be respected (I appreciate your post was tongue in cheek).

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Those that refuse are probably worried about exactly this outcome. I reckon they need re-assurance their choices will be respected (I appreciate your post was tongue in cheek).

It wasn't tongue in cheek though. Would have thought it would be at least worth taking them somewhere warm for a mental health assessment if they insisted on sleeping rough on a night as cold as last night.

 

[Poojah]

I can understand how people can be indifferent to the plight of others, we all have our own problems and all that, but I do find it genuinely baffling when some go out of their way to NOT help.

I was getting a few bits for tea after work, and it was absolutely baltic - like nothing I can remember experiencing in my home country before. Outside the shop was a young girl selling the big issue, clearly freezing cold. Now, I'm not someone who regularly entertains the homeless - I'm honestly not that nice a person, but having spent the day whinging about how cold it was INSIDE the office I couldn't in good conscience ignore this poor girl.

I genuinely had no change on me, so I offered to buy her a hot drink from the Greggs next door. She wanted a white coffee, three sugars, and so I obliged. Whilst I was in there it occurred to me she might want something warm to eat too, and so I handed over her coffee and asked her.

She wasn't sure what she wanted, so I told her to think about it whilst I got some bread / milk etc from the shop. I was in there for no more than 5 mins, and she'd still not decided so I told her to come in with me and choose for herself. Here's how the conversation went...

Greggs woman 1: Sorry, we're closing now

Me: Oh right, well it's freezing outside and I'd just like to get this lady something warm to eat if that's alright

Greggs woman 2: We can't sell you anything I'm afraid, as we've cleared everything away now. We're not allowed to.

[Just behind the counter is a tray containing about 50 piping hot pasties, sausage rolls and pasties which are about to be thrown out]

Me: Well can't she just take a couple of things from that tray? It's incredibly cold out there.

Greggs woman 1: No. we've shut down the till.

Greggs woman 2: Yep, and we're not allowed to sell anything once it's classed as waste.

Me: So, you're throwing them all out then and so she can stay cold and hungry instead?

[It begins to dawn on them that they're being unreasonable]

Greggs woman 1: Right, she can have two things.

[No choice is offerred, and two unspecified pasties are hastily thrown into a bag and handed over to the young girl]

Greggs woman 1: That'll be £2.90

[No 'please', and the previously shut down till appears to require no firing up to charge me for two non-descript pasties which were about to be discarded anyway. I can't be bothered to argue, so duly pay with my debit card.]

At this point, the young girl leaves the shop and Greggs woman 1 walks away to undertake another task. In the interest of fairness, at this point Greggs woman 2, by this point looking a bit embarrassed, quickly stamps 3 loyalty cards (buy 10 coffees, get one free) to their capacity and hands me a chocolate muffin which had yet to be cleared away.

A decent gesture in the end, but it was quite a deflating experience to see how other human beings could be so quick to dismiss another in genuine need of help - help that required absolutely nothing of them. It also begs the question why companies like Greggs are throwing all this stuff away instead of delivering it to shelters etc (assuming that's not the case of course).

Truly baffling and disheartening in equal measure.