Businesses in Milton Keynes have been showing their generosity, and donating to a large homeless outreach event which being hosted this Saturday in Central Milton Keynes.
The campaign is the brainchild of Milton Keynes musician Tyler Fitzpatrick, who was spurred into action after seeing a friend of his - a former soldier - living on the streets in the new city.
Tyler used his creativity and wrote a song to raise awareness: "It has ended up bringing the community together in a big way," Tyler told MKFM,
"I’ll be performing it live on Saturday as part of the outreach, to highlight the issue and hopefully encourage more people to support or donate on the day.
"Over the last week we’ve been collecting donations from local businesses and have a few businesses coming down to donate Saturday, including hot meals, tents, sleeping bags and clothing with more donations coming in daily. Everything will be handed out directly to people sleeping rough in MK."
Tyler understands the difficulties of homelessness only too well: "There have been times in my own life where I’ve come close to homelessness, so this campaign comes from a very real place for me," he told us, "When I was around 19, I had a period where I had to sofa surf or sleep in my car for a while," he said.
"I was lucky to have support around me, so it didn’t last long, but it showed me how quickly life can change. Homelessness has also affected my family — my grandad was homeless for years, staying in a friend’s shed, sofa surfing, and even sleeping in bus stop shelters when he had nowhere else to go. Eventually he got help and found sheltered housing, but watching him go through that was tough, especially when I was young and couldn’t do much to support him. These experiences are a big part of why I’m so passionate about helping people who don’t have the same safety nets I did."
Tyler has been assisted in this venture by Ryan Gillham from MK based Big Bens Removals who has been instrumental in helping bring the campaign together: "Helping the homeless is something that holds a very strong place in my heart as I was once in that position and now I’m in a position where I can give back," he added.
Saturday's event will run outside The Point from 1pm.
If you would like to donate, click the link
