Community backs schoolgirl’s appeal to help homeless people this winter

A 10-year-old from Great Stukeley has left her mum “bursting with pride” after successfully organising a collection for the county’s homeless.

Lucy Giles braved the wind and rain to launch a collection appeal on December 1, with the youngster putting up posters she made herself around the village calling for donations of clothes and personal care essentials.

Lucy, a pupil at Great Paxton Primary School, was moved by adverts on the television highlighting the plight of homeless people at Christmas and decided she wanted to do more than simply hand over money.

With the backing of her mum, Katie Soper, Lucy, went around the village collecting up donated items and, when the appeal closed last week, she had a dining room “chock-a-bloc full” of donations.

Ms Soper said: “Lucy saw adverts on the television about the homeless and asked how we could help. She has always enjoyed doing fundraising at school so I said ‘rather than raise money, why not do something different’ and so she decided to get out and have a go with a collection.

“She has been an absolute trooper and I am bursting with pride.”

The items, including underwear, wet wipes, jackets, gloves, and hats, were collected from Lucy’s home on Saturday and taken to Cambridge by the group, Caring for Cambridgeshire’s Homeless.

The items will be handed out to homeless people in the city by a team of volunteers over the Christmas period.

To find out more about Caring for Cambridgeshire’s Homeless, search for them on Facebook.