SHS Supports Local Homeless Charity Outreach Angels

SHS recently pulled together to donate food and clothing to Outreach Angels, a charity in Birmingham which cares for the city’s homeless population. Among some of the items donated were hats, gloves, soups and cans of food.

Outreach Angels spent a night on the streets with the homeless to find out how it feels to sleep on concrete floors in a sleeping bag in the wet and cold.

“We fully support Outreach Angels and all the great work they do looking after our city’s most vulnerable people,” said Rebecca Ashmore, Sales and Marketing Director. “We applaud their commitment and are proud to be able to help them and Birmingham’s homeless population.”

After sleeping on the streets, many volunteers returned home feeling emotional wrecks after feeling the realities homelessness.

“We’re trying to understand what these people go through twenty-four-seven,” said Michala Roche, one of Outreach Angels founders. “We’re out here only for one night… It’s not much, but it’s going to give us a valuable insight.”

The morning after, many of the volunteers were left feeling cold and unrested. “We’ve woken up and we’re cold to our bones,” said one of the volunteers. “We all woke up feeling really sad.”

“It’s important for businesses to help local charities such as these,” said Rebecca. “We’re fortunate to live in or around a brilliant and exciting city. But with this good fortune comes a responsibility towards those less privileged than us. Outreach Angels have inspired us as a business to lend them our support and donations. We’d like to encourage other businesses to also get involved and support Outreach Angels.”

The warm clothing donated by SHS will help protect the homeless from the cold.

“You don’t realise how cold it is out here,” said Martin, a volunteer for Outreach Angels. “You can feel the cold in your kidneys. And the temperature [wasn’t] even that low. You can’t imagine how cold it would be if it dropped even lower.”

SHS have asked staff to bring food supplies and warm clothes to the factory and this resulted in a significant amount of supplies gathered, which were bundled up and sent directly to Outreach Angels. SHS plan to continue their support for Outreach Angels in the future and hope to lead by example for other businesses in the area.  “It’s sad to see so many people sleeping rough in winter, but we’re confident that together, businesses such as SHS can create a valued impact to the lives of homeless people in Birmingham.”

Outreach Angels is a not-for-profit organisation that was started by three friends, Michala Roche, 27; Sharon Winsindale, 48 and Nataley Phillips, 37. They began buying food with their own money and giving it to the homeless. Now they are run entirely on donations and have so many people looking to volunteer with them, they’ve had to create a waiting list.

If you would like to donate or to see how you could help, please call Outreach Angels on 07904 180838 or see more via Facebook or Twitter.