Exmouth Market Businesses Support The Homeless
Local businesses in Exmouth Market have clubbed together to help the area’s homeless people with a “Take One Leave One” coat rail. The idea will help to provide the area’s homeless people by providing warm clothes, hot meals, oyster cards and even haircuts to give them some much needed support during the cold winter months. A move which we at AW Childs estate agents are keen to support in our local areas of Barbican, Clerkenwell, Farringdon and the wider Islington area. We ourselves are huge supporters of charitable endeavours in the local area and will be supporting this drive.
Placed outside the Holy Redeemer church, the “Take One Leave One” rail has been left so members of the business and wider communities can leave warm clothes out for those desperately need it in the area. In an interview with the Islington Gazette, organiser Stefan Simanowitz described how the idea hit him a little over a year ago. Describing the idea as “a simple, beautiful idea”, he got the idea from Twitter where he had seen someone using a rail as a way of leaving clothing for the homeless.
It isn’t only clothes that are available to the homeless. There has been the introduction of “pledge cards” that allow people to donate all manner of items that are supplied by local businesses. These include haircuts, hot drinks and even a hot meal. These are all supplied by local businesses that have signed up to help make a difference to those who are suffering in the local area.
The idea was for the rail to be in place for a week to start with, but there has been significant support from the business community that will help to keep the rail in place for the foreseeable future. Certainly with the support of not only the business community, but also the wider local community, the “Take One Leave One” rail has the possibility to make a real difference to the homeless in the Islington area. The future of the project is bright; as those behind the scheme look to extend it with their local business partners – a future we at AW Childs estate agents will be delighted to assist with.
The Rising Problem Of London’s Homeless
The sad news from last year that four men had died while rough sleeping in Islington brings sharply into focus the problem of homelessness in the capital. With approximately 1,297* homeless sleepers in Islington, and a steep rise of 18% in the previous 12 months, it is clear that homelessness is a growing problem. There are all manner of reasons that people become homeless, principally these revolve around mental health issues and drug use (which are unfortunately often interlinked to produce devastation to people’s lives). For these reasons the building of more shelters does not often fix the problem. While this may seem counterintuitive, rough sleepers often take to the streets because of the dangers that shelters bring.
So what can be done? Homelessness is a complicated problem that has an innumerable number of causes – a silver bullet cure is simply not feasible. The reason that the “Take One Leave One” rail offers such a help is that it simply helps to solve one of the myriad of problems of homelessness. While it is clear that the government needs to do more on homelessness, the kindness of the wider community, as displayed in the introduction of this rail, can make a huge difference to those who need it most. So if you want to help, pop down to Holy Redeemer church and offer whatever you can – it will be most appreciated.
*Source Islington Gazette – click here for news story