Tiny charity with a big heart lifts spirits on streets

For 25-year-old Neil, however, the evening ahead looks starkly different. His night out will consist of an hour in the corner of a bingo hall car park, his evening meal no more than a jacket potato wrapped up in tin foil.

Not that you'll catch him complaining

"They give us something warm to eat here, and something to sleep in, and it gets you though," he says. "It makes a big difference – especially with it being Sunday the next day as well. Sunday is the hardest day when you're on the streets."

He is speaking from painful experience, having spent three months sleeping rough in Rotherham, grasping shelter and safety wherever he could find them.

"Neil was in a bit of a bad way when we first saw him," says Avril Wigglesworth, founder of local charity Street-Life Support, whose hardy band of volunteers arrive at the car park every Saturday night to hand out food to those sleeping rough or in temporary accommodation around the town. "But he's got somewhere to stay now, and he's doing okay."

He nods his agreement.

"It's nice to come down here for an hour," he says. "On a weekend when everyone's going out to a nightclub, this way you can come out as well. They give you two pack-ups (of food) – one for tonight, and, if you're on the streets, one for tomorrow.It does help you. Who doesn't want a warm jacket potato and a sleeping bag when they're sleeping out?"

It's clear the service provided by the tiny charity is popular. There are around 30 people dotted around the car park this particular evening, chatting in groups or hungrily tucking into their potatoes on benches along the canal embankment.

"This is our dining area," Mrs Wigglesworth says, gesturing with a smile.

She and her husband set up the charity nearly four years ago, frustrated that the local hostel where they worked as support staff was often full to capacity. She can list nearly 300 people whom they helped during the first two years alone, more than 50 of them rough sleepers from the streets of Rotherham.

Most of the others stay in squats, 'sofa-surf' with friends or live in temporary accommodation such as bed-and-breakfasts.

Everyone is friendly and happy to chat, though vague about the circumstances that have seen them end up on the streets.

Steve, 64 years old next month and one of the charity's regular 'customers', explains: "Some can't get on with family and they just end up homeless. Others run away from bullying, from drugs, things like that. And some are people who have left home to find a better life and it just hasn't worked out."

For a man who "could hardly walk" when he first came into contact with the charity while sleeping rough, it appears things are beginning to pick up. His eyes sparkle as he describes how he has just been offered sheltered accommodation by the local council.

"My address used to be 'the tent in the shed'," he says with a chuckle.

Geoff, a middle-aged man making his first trip down to the charity's food stand, has not been so lucky.

"I've nowhere to sleep – not inside – but I've got places I can go that are far away and nobody will bother me," he says. "I can get warm there. This is my fifth winter out."

Mrs Wigglesworth says: "We see people rough sleeping every week. That is fact.

"It's true to say there are not as many as there were when we started. But we do carry sleeping bags for when people are really desperate. We do our best for them with what we've got.

"That might be ringing somewhere up and asking if they've got a bed space. If not, the best we can do is give them a sleeping bag and tell them where to go to be safe."

The charity operates almost entirely on the work of its volunteers, but a grant from the Community Foundation has helped to pay for a van. They are currently fund-raising to buy Christmas presents for their regular visitors. "We always try and get them a present, although a lot of it does come out of our own pockets," Mrs Wigglesworth says.

Helping the homeless

Street Life Support costs just 75 a week to keep in operation.

Last year nearly 500 rough sleepers were found during 'head counts' by local authorities.

Nationally there are 183 day centres for homeless people serving 10,000 people per day.

One in 20 homeless people is an Armed Forces veteran.

Helping a homeless person out of a hostel and into work saves the state around 30,000 a year.