Can you imagine what it must be like not being able to go home to your nice warm house and bed at then end of the day in the cold winter nights?

The cold reality of a rough sleeper is that their home is a cave, under a viaduct, an old disused building, shop doorways, an industrial waste bin, old toilets anywhere where the rough sleeper feels relatively safe without our rucksacks they have no protection from the elements, sleeping is difficult because of the cold and wet, their health plummets and all too frequently rough sleepers suffer dire consequences.

Rotary Sowerby Bridge established the Rucksacks4Homeless scheme in 2017. Every year since then, we have given away in excess of 80 rucksacks to people who have been forced to sleep on the streets. Each rucksack costs £80 and contain a four season mummy style sleeping bag, bivvy bag, foil backed sleeping mat, thermal hat, scarf, waterproof gloves, thick long woollen socks, flask and hygiene box containing a number of personal hygiene products, these help provide the rough sleeper with a sense of pride, dignity and knowledge that the community does care about their situation.

Powerful statements of how these rucksacks quite literally save lives. Take a look at our short films on our YouTube channel in particular the film about Colin how he reached the depths of despair, then step by step, through self help and that of others he has turned his life around, he now acts as very valued Ambassador for this project which gives him the opportunity to give something back to the community.

The rucksacks are distributed via the homeless organisations, by receiving a rucksack it is the first step of intervention in assisting these rough sleepers.

Please look at our short films - particularly the one of Colin, it is a true story.

fhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4CwZOLfzcAwKD1ISwxsExA