North East charity appealing for donations to their ‘Feed a Friend for a Fiver’ homeless campaign

The North East Homeless charity is asking for £5 donations this Christmas for their “Feed a Friend for a Fiver” campaign to help the homeless and those in need.

Their aim this year is to receive enough donations to provide 200 hot three-course meals on Christmas Eve and once again bring some festive spirit to the vulnerable across the region.

Brian Burridge, charity founder and support coordinator, said: “I think we’ll exceed our money target this year. We don’t know how much money we’ve made until Christmas Day, but this year will be our third meal in Central station.

“Every year the charity is getting busier. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s good that people know you’re there, but it highlights the state the country is in with people having to come to a station to get something to eat.”

He added: “If we save some money it rolls onto other things, we’ll go back onto the streets on Boxing Day and provide more hot drinks and meals.”

The “Feed a Friend for a Fiver” campaign isn’t the only thing the charity is doing to help out this Christmas. Every week the charity does three outreaches to those in need covering the Sunderland area on a Tuesday and Newcastle Town Centre on a Thursday and a Sunday. During these outreaches, they serve hot food and drinks in the winter and cold food in the summer.

The charity is run entirely by volunteers, who this year will be handing out 55 Christmas hampers for families who are struggling. These hampers will contain breakfast, Christmas dinner and a party tea.

Burridge said: “Christmas is a hard time for people especially if you’re on your own as loneliness is a massive thing. People who come to us might not necessarily be homeless, there’s a lot of reasons. With Covid especially, people losing jobs and furlough being a big issue but it’s all about having respect and dignity for people.”

Donations towards their Christmas campaign can be made here