We all know how mad the sales, gift packages and deals are at this time of year, Christmas consumerism is at an all time high. I mentioned in a previous post that I was putting together some gift bundles for homeless people. I can’t enjoy or commit to Christmas shopping because I feel so guilty and heartbroken for all the rough sleepers I see in Liverpool, and I’ve got shopping bags full of presents for my friends and family that they don’t really need. We aren’t looking after people who really are in need on our doorsteps. All in all I made 17 packages, and 6 for dogs, and it cost me about £100. To a student, this is a lot, but it isn’t something I’ll regret. I think nothing of repurchasing toothpaste or shampoo/deodorant, so it wouldn’t kill me to provide others with what I so often take for granted. I put the women’s ones in drawstring wash/shoe bags I found in Poundland, and male ones in plastic Santa sacks that we wrapped to look like presents. This was for no reason other than I was just trying a couple of bag sizes and figured waterproof ones would be better. I thought I would compile a list of all the things I included in these bundles in order to show how simple they were to do, and encourage others to do the same. Imagine not being able to clean your teeth, how awful and degrading would that be? These are just essentials, I wish I could have provided many more long-term gifts, I hope that when I’m not relying on student loans, I can.
Items:
2x chocolate bars
Chocolate dippers (like dairylea dunkers, but chocolate!)
2x candy canes
Bottled water
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Deodorant
Wipes
Tissues
Cotton buds
4x pens
Notebook
Socks/gloves (some had both, some had 2 socks, it was hard to get the ratio’s right but every one had 2 items)
Plasters
For the women:
Sanitary towels
Tampons
Ear muffs
Dogs:
Bouncy ball
3x chews
In every one I also included a handwritten card containing a Merry Christmas message and information about where to find the Whitechapel Centre for rough sleepers, and timings for their showers/Christmas dinners/entertainment etc.
We wrapped them this way so they would be easier to carry, and also look more like Christmas crackers/sweets. Since the sacks were thin plastic, we thought it would also be a good idea to tie them with ribbon as cellotape would probably rip them. This way, rough sleepers can use the again to keep things dry.
I hope that anybody who reads this will be inspired, even to take some cans of food to a food bank. This is such a massive issue that is so close to my heart as I witness it almost daily whilst living in a city, and I have noticed the issue also creeping into my hometown. I know this isn’t helping on a wider scale, but it’s a good thing to do for others at this time. Every Christmas, I take a minute to look out of the window and just think of all of the people sleeping rough outside, not having anywhere to go, anything festive, no one to hug or say ‘merry Christmas’ to, or even not knowing it’s Christmas. That is the saddest thought ever, and I hope one day there are more measures taken to get these people off the street. Not every rough sleeper is a delinquent, drug addict, drunk, and we need to break this stigma.
