A local homeless outreach service will be able to offer more comfort and protection to people experiencing homelessness across the county, thanks to a bumper donation by West Nottinghamshire College’s student experience team.
More than 20 sets of sleeping bags, tents, rucksacks, cushioned yoga mats and walking boots were collected from the college’s Derby Road campus on Thursday (23 May) by Framework’s street outreach worker Louis Hope.
Framework is a charity which delivers housing, health, employment, support and care services to people with a diverse range of needs.
Louis said: “This is such a surprise and a welcome donation from the college. Such items are quite hard to come by. We will distribute the tents to our day centres where people visit and can take a tent if they would like. The sleeping bags and rucksacks will be placed in our outreach cars for emergencies.
“We drive out every day from 5-8am, choosing a different area – Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark, Bassetlaw, Rushcliffe, Gedling and Broxtowe.
“We see a lot of familiar faces during the outreach drives and we can offer sleeping bags to those who may only have a thin blanket. Offering these kind of items out to people can help build their trust
Student support administrator Sam Cooling-Severns said: “When we discovered this old equipment needed to be sorted through, we immediately thought of Framework and the great support they offer to people in our communities.
“Louis and his team will most certainly put this to good use and we’re more than happy to help this organisation who we’ve supported before with fundraising efforts.”