Hello! this is Henry here, this is the reason I decide to raise money for the homeless. every time that I go in town, or go to the park to kick a ball about, every corner that I turn there is always someone on the street begging for things that we have in our everyday lives, and it is painful to see. Many of us, me included, forget how much that we have and how little others may have. Because nobody's thought should ever be 'where am I sleeping tonight?', it should be perhaps, 'Shall I do my homework now, or after dinner?' that is the reason that I have been raising money for 7 years now, and hope to for many more years in the future.

Dad here...

Why do I take part in the Sleep Out?  This is a night I dread.  I do not sleep.  I feel my chest tightening and I cannot wait for the night to end.  I cannot imagine what it must be like to do this every night.  However, Emmaus helped a friend of mine and this is how it happened.

I met my friend, Terry, during the Christmas of 2008 when he was a guest of "LifeShare", Manchester and I was a volunteer. Like many of the guests my friend had been made homeless after difficult personal circumstances and now slept rough. 

At night, if he was in the right place at the right time he might find a shelter - on camp beds in a draughty, noisy hall with many other homeless men and women.  Only three months before he had been working as a chef in Stockport and living at home with his wife.  When his marriage fell apart the stress meant that he soon lost his job in the restaurant.

My friend and I had a few things in common. Recent marriage breakdowns, financial difficulties and a life turned on its head.  We both had had to face our worst fears.  The reality was that there was not much separating us.  

Two years after we met I was now living in St Albans. Terry called me to say he was sleeping rough at Marble Arch. It was the winter of 2010 and bitterly cold. I meet him for a coffee. The nightly chill on his kidneys was clearly making him very unwell. 

At the end of our conversation I was free to head back to St Albans and my home and central heating and a fridge full of food.  He was heading back to an ice block of a paving slab, if his space had not been pinched.

At home I called Emmaus St Albans. They told me that there was no chance of a space for Terry unless he was someone with a particular skillset.  They had one spare room but they were saving it for a chef.

Oh praise God!

The next day Terry took ownership of his new room at Emmaus St Albans, a new start, a new role, a reason to get up in the morning and a place for his body and mind to heal.

Please support us to raise funds for Emmaus.