Hope for Homelessness Songs of Praise

On the streets of our cities, there's a growing problem

that's becoming more visible than ever - homelessness.

Today is Homeless Sunday, a day when churches

around the country unite to find practical ways of offering help.

And I'm joining my church on their regular 4:00am tea run

here in London.

Welcome to Songs Of Praise.

On the programme, I help bring breakfast to the homeless

in Covent Garden and hear how much warm food and a friendly face mean.

This is the highlight of my week.

The Reverend Kate Bottley meets a remarkable 13-year-old

who's bringing hope to the homeless in Preston.

One of the really inspirational things from the Bible

that I read said that it doesn't matter about your age,

as long as you're making a difference.

And we visit the man putting an ingenious roof

over the heads of those in need in Bristol.

January is one of the hardest months to be living on the streets.

According to the charities Shelter, Crisis and Housing Justice,

the number of rough sleepers has doubled since 2010.

Increasingly, it's churches who are offering the help that's

so desperately needed. Not just here in London, but all over the UK.

And our music comes from right across the country, offering

words of hope and reassurance that God's love is for all.

And we start with a hymn that's based on Psalm 23 -

The King of Love My Shepherd Is.

It's 4:00am here in London.

A little bit earlier than I'm used to getting up,

but my daughter Lily and I have come to join volunteers

from our church, All Souls, in London,

on the Saturday morning tea run.

We've done this before, so we know what we're letting ourselves in for,

but I'd forgotten how cold it gets, Lily.

-Come on, Dad, let's do this.

-All right.

Our first job is to help the team prepare the food

and hot drinks to take out to people on the streets of Covent Garden.

The work is part of ASLAN - the All Souls Local Action Network.

And since 1988, volunteers have been helping every week.

My 20-year-old daughter and I used to help out here each month, but

this is the first time we've been able to come for a couple of years.

Prayer is an important part of the team's preparations.

We know through the love of God that there is hope,

whatever circumstances that they've got, that you can give them hope.

By 4:45am, the van is fully loaded up

and we head off to Covent Garden in Central London.

By day, it's full of tourists, but at night,

this affluent area is increasingly home to rough sleepers.

And a hot breakfast is eagerly awaited.

-That looks nice.

-I'm enjoying my...

-You've got raisins in there, have you?

-Raisins in porridge.

-I saw it being made.

-I wasn't going to have any, but I put raisins in instead of sugar.

-Yeah.

-I've got to watch my weight.

-I was going to say, you're healthy!

THEY LAUGH

This is the most sensible hand-out that the homeless get.

Because it's the only place at 5:30am you can get hot food.

That's a life-saver for these guys.

I've been coming here for the last 10 years.

They're as regular as clockwork.

They're nearly as good as a Swiss watch, actually.

THEY LAUGH

There's a good reason why the tea run is so early in the morning.

We go out at 5:00am,

when people are most likely to be suffering from hypothermia.

And we are trying to improve standards of care and support,

with God's help, but also with training from the local council.

Some of our guests say that they don't actually open up to anyone

until they know a volunteer for two years.

So it's about long-term trust and building relationships

before you can then really get alongside someone and help them.

There's always that chat, which people need

because you don't chat to people when you're on the street.

Nobody wants to know you.

But you come here, you have a laugh, you can have a giggle.

If you've got a problem, you talk about it, problem's gone.

I thought homeless people would be, like, drunk, drug addicts

and they would be dirty and smelly,

but I've found that's not the case.

They just seem to have fallen on hard times,

but, you know, are looking after themselves.

It's not just food that the volunteers provide.

They've given me advice when I needed it,

when I was feeling down, depressed and whatever.

They say, "We'll pray for you", and I know they do.

And sometimes their prayers have been answered for me,

whether it happens through this or that.

But prayer works. I do it myself.

A lot of people that I speak to who live on the streets

feel they have no hope.

And if we read the Bible, we see if we trust in God,

he doesn't say we're going to have an easy time in our life,

but if we can believe in him and cast our cares onto him,

then, you know, by grace, you know, we are saved.

My daughter Lili and I first volunteered

on the All Souls Tea Run when she was just 17.

I just forgot how rewarding and how great it feels

to give back, I guess.

You know, the reason we did this the first time,

was because I wanted to teach you that...we actually live quite

privileged lives and we should be giving back.

-Yes.

-I wanted to teach you a lesson, I ended up learning

just as much as you.

Our next hymn reminds us that Jesus is the light

and offers hope in the darkness.

Which is particularly relevant at this time of year,

as Friday is the Feast of Candlemas,

which celebrates the presentation of the young Jesus in the temple.

Traditionally, it was a time

when people brought their candles to be blessed in church.

Now, lots of us feel powerless to help

when we see people sleeping rough on the streets.

But one young teenager was determined

to do something meaningful to help.

The Reverend Kate Bottley went to meet her.

Like many cities,

Preston in Lancashire has a growing number of homeless people.

It's a problem that really struck 13-year-old Megan Holmes.

I was shopping with my mum,

and there were all these homeless people on the streets with nothing,

-and it really, really pulled on my heart.

-And what happened next?

So, I went home and I researched and I spoke to a few homeless people

and a woman that works in a homeless shelter

and found out what they needed and not just what I thought they needed.

And came up with a bag containing essential items,

and that was the Hope Bag.

Today is a big day for Megan.

She's launching her latest Hope Bag at her church's charity shop.

Megan, talk me through what's in a Hope Bag.

There are a lot of essential items,

that when I spoke to people on the streets, they said they would need.

So, a hat and some thermal socks to keep them warm

because, obviously, it's very cold. And we've got some hand sanitizer.

They don't want to feel dirty, so it's good to have them in there,

and tissues and wipes and water.

This is an information leaflet which guides them to places to go

and places where they can go and seek help.

And what's this?

So, this is a foil blanket.

The idea is it's a lot more practical than a normal blanket,

because it's waterproof and windproof.

How old were you when you first had the idea?

I was 11 when I came up with this idea, now I'm 13 now.

That's amazing!

Did no-one say to you at any point, "Come on, you're only a child.

"This is a bit too big of a project for you to take on"?

There were always going to be them people, but I didn't listen.

One of the really inspirational things from the Bible that I read,

said that in 1 Timothy 4:12,

it talks about how it doesn't matter about your age,

whether you're old or whether you're young, it shouldn't matter

what you do, as long as you're making a difference

and you're doing what you set your heart on doing, it doesn't matter.

Earlier today, Megan joined her regular congregation

at Crossgate Church in Preston

to tell them all about her little bags of hope.

And that's why it's good to give them something that has value

and worth, and considers their needs,

not just what we assume they need.

APPLAUSE The bags cost £4.

And people who buy them can either leave them to be distributed

by the charity shop, or hand them out themselves.

You've got armfuls!

-How many bags are you buying?

-I'm buying 10 today.

10? That's amazing!

I mean, you know, you buy 'em a cup of coffee,

but how many cups of coffee do they have in a day?

But this, I think, is just so fantastic.

It's a real gift, isn't it, really?

The thing is that they see Jesus in me.

When I give this, it's not from me, it's from Jesus.

At the moment, the bags are only available through

Megan's church in Preston, but she hopes the idea will spread.

So, this is Anthony, he was one of the first homeless people

that I spoke to and he helped me with what to put in the bags.

Yeah, I think it's a brilliant idea.

You know, the fact that somebody has had the consideration

and the thought to go about and do it, and yet at such a young age,

to do it is just inspiring to us homeless people.

And it's the fact that somebody's there who's got a heart,

and you know that you're loved and somebody cares for you, really.

What a remarkable young lady!

And what a brilliant idea, so simple and yet so transformative.

Our next hymn by Stuart Townend is a reminder

that God cares for everyone, and that he's the king of kindness.

# Come, all you vagabonds, Come all you "don't belongs"

# Winners and losers, Come, people like me

# Come' all you travellers Tired from the journey

# Come wait a while, stay a while Welcome you'll be

# Come, all you questioners Looking for answers

# And searching for reasons And sense in it all

# Come, all you fallen And come all you broken

# Find strength for your body And food for your soul

# Come to the feast there is room at the table

# Come, let us meet in this place

# With the King of all kindness Who welcomes us in

# With the wonder of love and the power of grace

# The wonder of love and the power of grace

# Come, those who worry 'bout houses and money

# And all those who don't have a care in the world

# From every station and orientation

# The helpless, the hopeless, the young and the old

# Come to the feast, there is room at the table

# Come, let us meet in this place

# With the King of all kindness who welcomes us in

# With the wonder of love and the power of grace

# The wonder of love and the power of grace

# Come, all believers and dreamers and schemers

# And come all you restless just searching for home

# Movers and shakers and givers and takers

# The happy, the sad, the lost and alone

# Come, self-sufficient, with wearied ambition

# And come those who feel at the end of the road

# Fiery debaters and religion haters

# Accusers, abusers, the hurt and ignored

# Come to the feast, there is room at the table

# Come, let us meet in this place

# With the King of all kindness who welcomes us in

# With the wonder of love and the power of grace

# The wonder of love and the power of grace

# The wonder of love and the power of grace! #

Talk to any of the people here

and the one thing they desire is a home, just somewhere to live.

Sadly, that's a distant dream for many.

But one man has come up with a very creative solution in Bristol.

Jasper Thompson is a man with a vision.

He's been in the Army, he was then a chef,

and last year, he set up this community project.

He's developing this derelict site in Bristol into a village

made from shipping containers, for people without a home.

That's a container we're going to develop into a micro flat.

As you can see it, it's rubbish!

But when we finish, it'll be fantastic.

This must have been a changing room for a football team.

Local school maybe or a local sports centre.

It may be hard to imagine, but when Jasper has finished,

the containers become small homes.

Jasper has four on site waiting to be transformed

and five that he's already converted.

Each of the containers, all the furniture in them

and the work to convert them is donated.

Everything you can see in here, from the windows to the lights,

the sofa, microwave, fridge, all donations.

We've got one lad living here at the moment,

he was currently living in his van.

So, he's here now and trying to get himself up on his feet.

And then in a few months' time, he should be sorted.

If I need a builder, carpenter, a window fitter,

I just put an appeal out.

There's always someone out there who'll want to help you, you know?

There's no point trying to do it on your own,

I could never do this on my own.

Thanks for popping down.

God's set a path for you

and he expects you to follow that path, you know.

It's taken me a while and it always takes people a while,

or it takes something in life to realise

God has chosen me for this, you know?

And I feel, honestly feel that I've been chosen to do this,

by God, you know.

The idea is that people are given a roof over their heads

for up to a year, until they get back on their feet.

A lot of the work is done by volunteers, like Carl,

who knows what it's like to be homeless.

I was sleeping rough outside of a church in the West End,

called the Commonwealth Christian Fellowship.

And I met a gentleman named William Jones,

and he's getting on now but I believe he helped save my life.

And he spoke about how Jesus loves me, how he wants to save me,

how he wants to be a part of my life.

Sorry, it makes me feel a little emotional when I think about it,

because I remember that day, you know, and I'll never forget it.

And yeah, we did a little prayer, and it sort of went from there.

We have a slogan with Help Bristol's Homeless,

and it's, "Together, we can make a difference."

More and more containers are being donated,

and Bristol Council has just given him land to create a permanent site.

There's no end to Jasper's vision.

You're looking at that container now, and to you, it's just...

A container!

But you know, for me, we will turn that into a launderette.

What we're trying to develop here

is everyone being neighbourly toward each other.

And that's exactly what we want on this site,

some sort of neighbourly spirit and kindness.

We love you, Rachel, we love you.

Back in central London, the Tea Run is still busy.

There's often no quick fix for homelessness.

Some of the people here today are no longer living on the streets

but still need support.

Are you in a hostel at night or do you...?

At the minute, I'm in temporary accommodation,

which is like on a weekly basis, so I could be out next week.

I just don't know where I am at the moment.

Which is why it's very hard to let go of what's important to you.

Because next week, I can be on my arse again.

And if I give this up, I'll have to start over again.

Even those who are now in permanent accommodation

come back to meet up with old friends.

It's a great help, and something to look forward to.

That's right, meeting people, getting out of the loneliness

of being on your own, that sort of thing.

That's why I...

By befriending people on the Tea Run,

the volunteers can be the catalyst to finding them a home.

It makes a big difference now, if I look back.

Because at that time,

I didn't even have a place to sometimes have a shower.

So, one of the Tea Run men,

he helped me to have a shower in his office.

So, I realise that people are very nice.

And you've turned it around, cos you're not on the streets any more?

Yeah, I... For that, really say thank you, God.

Because I believe that without God's help,

it's very hard to get out from anything.

We just want to bring companionship.

So, not just about people who are thinking about

the problems all the time, but you know, the cheerier things,

like things to be grateful for.

-We've heard a lot of laughter today.

-Yeah, yeah.

-It seems a sort of fun, nice atmosphere...

-Yeah.

-..given the people are in difficult situations.

-Yes.

As dawn breaks over London, it's time for the team to head back

for their own breakfast and a chance to reflect on their experiences.

What I found the most touching was the fact that although

Dad and I haven't done this for a long time,

people seem to still remember who we were

and what I've been doing.

Friends don't remember that much about me, but they remembered!

And it was just so lovely,

and that's what I found really rewarding today.

Quite a number of people feel there's no hope for them,

for their future.

Perhaps they feel no-one loves them,

but if we can get the message across that Jesus loves them...

..and with our help, perhaps pointing them in the right way,

in a practical way, then they'll find some hope in their future.

Well, every time I've done the Tea Run, I've always felt tired

but I felt really uplifted.

And today was no different.

Right, that's just about it for this week.

Coming up next week - the Reverend Kate Bottley marks 100 years

since women were first given the vote

by learning about pioneering Christian women, past and present.

And at Hampton Court Palace, Josie d'Arby gets to see

a rare piece of Elizabethan Christian history.

We end with a hymn that expresses the eternal hope

that faith in God brings.

Until next time, goodbye.