A member of staff at Airedale Hospital has collected over 200 shoeboxes to support a local homeless charity.

Charlee Edgar, a speech and language therapist at Airedale, put the call out to her colleagues for shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts to support homeless people – and they responded magnificently.

Charlee says: “After seeing the kind and caring support given to Airedale from local people during the Covid pandemic, I wanted to try and find a way to give back to our community. Homeless not Hopeless is a local charity serving Bradford and Keighley area who were appealing for Christmas shoeboxes to give to the homeless community at outreaches.

“I put the call out via our internal bulletins and the response from the Airedale staff, their families and friends was awe-inspiring. The Airedale family pulled together to great effect with this appeal and we donated over 200 shoeboxes and gift bags to the charity. I am so proud of everyone for their incredible response, and so glad we could help.”

Charlee and the hospital’s transport team got the boxes to the charity, and they will now be given out to the homeless community and other homeless charities in the local area.

Homeless Not Hopeless celebrated its first birthday in December 2020 and are still looking for volunteers for a range of roles.  You can contact them via their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/569492070571608

A spokesperson for Homeless Not Hopeless said:  “Homeless Not Hopeless is a voluntary organisation established on 5 December 2019 by our founder Matt. Matt personally knows the immense challenges and struggles, both emotionally and physically, which can make it even more difficult to ‘get back on your feet’.

“Those who experience homelessness do not have a place they can call home. This includes people spending nights in shelters, on the streets, in abandoned buildings or even couch surfing. There is no single reason why someone can end up without a home. Personal circumstances and wider factors both play their part. Matt now runs HNH with the support of a committed team of trustees and volunteers, all with different backgrounds and expertise.

“We are looking for caring and compassionate volunteers to join us who can give us their time and commitment, no matter how small. We also need volunteers with vans or large cars who can help us with our outreach work in Bradford City Centre on Wednesday evenings.”

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