KIND residents and staff at a Rugby nursing home have been helping the homeless.
Willow Tree Nursing Home ran a ‘shoebox appeal’ in aid of the Hope4 Rugby charity.
Residents at the School Street home made up parcels containing essential items such as blankets, bedding, toiletries, scarves and hats. They also donated sweets and biscuits for people sleeping rough.
Manager Jackie Huckvale said: “Homelessness is an issue all year round but in the coldest months of the year it is even more important to do our bit.
“Our staff were invited to Hope4 where they got to learn more about the charity and report back to our residents, who have been very motivated in filling shoe boxes with essentials and a few creature comforts.
“It’s been a brilliant initiative and we are all delighted to help.”
Hope4, based in Newbold Road, supports local people who are either homeless or badly housed, assisting them with skills, paperwork and job applications.
The charity also runs the town’s Winter Homeless Shelters and the Rugby Foodbank.
The nursing home’s donation comes after figures released in November showed there were 224 homeless people in Rugby borough – the highest of any district in Warwickshire – up by nearly 124 per cent from just over 100 in 2013.
In the same month, Rugby Foodbank revealed 2,004 three-day food packages were given to local people in crisis between April and September 2017, up by over a quarter on the previous year.
Visit www.hope4.org.uk/index.html for more information on Hope4.
