Can you help keep Lincoln’s homeless and Calais refugees warm this winter?

A Lincoln community group has launched a city-wide collection to help bing warmth and comfort to homeless people in the city and refugees this winter.

As temperatures begin to fall, Compassionate Lincoln will appeal for donations of ‘shnug’ items such as new socks, hats, neck warmers, underwear and gloves.

All items that are donated will be distributed to homeless people in the city and organisations that work to support them, and also to refugees in Calais through the charity Help Refugees.

Before distribution, items will be sorted into SHNUG bundles to include: three pairs of socks, one hat, one neckwarmer, three pairs of underwear and one pair of gloves.

Donations of single items being welcomed, as well as complete ‘bundles’. All donated items must be new and unused.

Three collection points have been set-up at the following host venues up until Saturday, November 11:

• Bishop Grosseteste University Students’ Union (24 / 7 collection point outside the building)
• Lincoln Drill Hall (Mon – Sat, 9am – 5pm and on performance nights)
• Moorland Community Centre / Ignite Elim Church

Compassionate Lincoln Steering Group Member, Holly Munro said: “Over the next three weeks we hope to collect lots of warm items that will help people to stay warm and dignified in the winter weather.

“This collection will be shared between people in our own city and also people who have fled their homes and are now without accommodation in Calais. We’re asking for fairly basic items but they will make a big difference.”

In September, the Nomad Trust stated that official figures on homelessness in Lincoln, which show a rise of 50% in the last six years, are actually just ‘a snapshot’ of the reality in the city.

Though the Calais ‘Jungle’ was demolished in October 2016 and the Dunkirk camp burnt down in April 2017, there are still 500-600 refugees sleeping rough in and around Calais, as well as 200 in Grande Synthe. Of the refugees still in Calais, at least 200 are unaccompanied children.

Steering Group Member, Charlie Kemp added: “This collection is about showing solidarity and compassion for people who are in very vulnerable and desperate situations – both here in Lincoln and also in Calais.

“The Compassionate Lincoln campaign is designed to give confidence to people that they can make a difference: it’s good to care, it’s better to do something than nothing and ours is a community with a big heart that will play its part wherever it can.”