#1 What was the objective of your event?
The Homelessness Crisis in Brighton is an increasing and on-going problem. Our aim was to go around Brighton and feed the homeless community with homemade food parcels and understand their stories and situation.
#4 How many people came? & #5 How did the attendees participate?
Some of our members went to Sainsbury’s to buy bread, a selection on fillings (ham, cheese, tuna & sweetcorn), fruit and veg, snacks (the obligatory chocolate bar), juice and dog food, as the number of homeless dogs owners has grown in turn with the increased rate of homelessness in Brighton. We then went to another members home to make 40 food parcels, all of which we gave out by splitting into 2 groups and offering them to people sleeping rough within city centre.
#6 What did you learn?
We learnt about the extent of homelessness in Brighton and how big the housing problem is. Furthermore, it gave us an insight into the difficulty of life on the streets particularly in the winter. It changed our attitude towards the homeless, they weren’t all lazy, work shy, alcoholics and drug addicts.
Homelessness can happen so quickly to anyone. We met a large variety of people, from the young to the old, those who came to the UK seeking a better life but found themselves homeless instead and veterans who went to war to find their houses repossessed.
We anticipated a few negative responses but all those we gave packages to were incredibly warm, friendly and grateful.