What have Warwick students been doing for the homeless?

Students at the University of Warwick have been organizing various events over the past few days in aid of the homeless people in Leamington Spa.

Jack Peters, the Raising and Giving (RAG) Challenges Officer, organized a Warwick RAG Winter Homeless Appeal collection, which took place Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 December on the Piazza.

He told the Boar : “I’m really pleased with how the event went and I’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who donated items or money to help out the homeless people in Leamington Spa.”

The two-day event asked that students donate anything from a list of items, which included winter clothing and toiletries, which could then be given to the homeless people for the winter months.

The appeal was extremely successful, with lots of gloves, scarves and toiletries donated. Items collected will be passed directly to the homeless in a shoe box donation carried out regularly by locals.

The collection was part of RAG’s central focus to tackle local homelessness this year. The society will be holding various events throughout the year in aid of this cause. This includes RAG week, which will take place week 5 of term 2 and will raise money for the local YMCA.

Hattie Webb, Events Officer at Warwick RAG, was at the stall on the Piazza on Tuesday. She observed: “I think students are quite willing to give to homelessness because we see it a lot in Leamington. It’s about making an actual tangible difference in our area.

“There’s something about Christmas time as well that makes people that little bit more generous!”

The society has also created a JustGiving page, so that students can donate money that will be used to purchase items for the homeless people in the area.

Another event which took place on Campus was a food stall jointly organized by Climate Reality and Rawkus on Wednesday 7 December.

The event saw members of these two societies making and selling various food dishes, including soup, dahl, and stir fry throughout the day on the piazza. The food used to make the dishes had been reclaimed from sources where it would have otherwise been thrown out.

All money raised through the event will be going to the Leamington Night Shelter, an important charity actively helping to tackle homelessness in the local area.

A third event this week, organized by third-year History and Politics student, Thomas Robinson, saw Warwick students proactively helping local people sleeping rough this winter.

After posting a status on various Facebook groups last week, appealing to interested students living in Leamington to help make and give out food and drink to the homeless, the event took place on Tuesday evening. Around a dozen students met to make sandwiches and flasks of tea to bring out that evening.

The helpers split into groups and made their way around the streets of Leamington, handing out the food and drink to those sleeping rough in the community. Each student who participated contributed to the cost of the ingredients for the hand-out.

Thomas described the experience: “When I offered a man a cup of tea and sandwich, he gave me a Scooby-Doo teddy. So here he was, this person who had absolutely nothing to give, but he gave me one of the only things he had. That put things into perspective for me.

“It helped me realise that giving, and acts of kindness, are something that may seem insignificant to you, but can make all the difference to those in need.”

Following its success, Thomas hopes that the event will now become a more regular occurrence for those in the student community in Leamington.

Second-year Law student, Jakub Karbowniczyn, was among those students who helped out.

He commented: “I think it was a great initiative, and a very humbling experience, something I would love to do again. I’d really encourage others to get involved as it really doesn’t require a lot of effort but it means the world to some people, showing them that people care and that they haven’t been forgotten.”

RAG’s JustGiving page for the appeal is still active, and can be found here.