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Gifts give homeless helping hand

HOMELESS people in Oxford will be a little warmer at Christmas thanks to donations from city residents.

Ann Poulter, far left, wraps gifts with fellow volunteers at the Gatehouse Ann Poulter, far left, wraps gifts with fellow volunteers at the Gatehouse

The Gatehouse has been appealing for gifts of essential items such as socks, pants and hats to hand out.

Yesterday volunteers gathered at the homelessness charity’s St Michael’s Street base to wrap the 200 parcels ready for delivery.

Ann Poulter, 65, from Whitehouse Road, has volunteered there for 12 years.

She said: “We try not to do too much about Christmas because it can bring back painful memories but these packages go some way towards including people in the festivities.”

Each package includes a hat, a pair of socks, pants, gloves, a scarf and a chocolate bar and will be handed out to those who drop by the centre tomorrow and Christmas Eve as they leave.

The Gatehouse provides food, shelter and company for Oxford’s homeless and poorly housed population. It will soon be moving to newly refurbished premises in the Parish Rooms of St Giles’ Church, in Woodstock Road.


Comments (3)

22/12/11

Darkforbid says...

like I said most of the rough sleeping homeless are giving up using The Gatehouse...

It's becoming like a drop-in centre for the insane housed, or a fill up station for fatties.

22/12/11

Enlightened_Oxford says...

Darkforbid wrote:
like I said most of the rough sleeping homeless are giving up using The Gatehouse...

It's becoming like a drop-in centre for the insane housed, or a fill up station for fatties.
Thus speaks “Darkforbid” (aka Victor Geoffrey Abbott) the well-known Cowley Road dosser who spends most of his time sponging off the Oxford homeless day centres and doing nothing himself to find housing or sort out his life.
Come on Vic, get off your backside, give up the drink and drugs and stop all the preaching or criticising others. Do something positive for once!

22/12/11

Darkforbid says...

So they build Homeless day centre, staff get paid to run them, but if the homeless use them its sponging... BTW if I use day centres its to charge my phone, there's so many housed using homeless day centres, bothering the staff with the probems housing caused them, there's no money left to help the ones on the street,

The best bet would be get rid of the homeless charities... how many people do the homeless employ in Oxford.

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