ITV News Anglia features Help4Homeless on regional television

What an incredible experience! Help4Homeless was featured on ITV News Anglia, sharing our story with viewers across the East of England. The feature highlighted how our founder Tom Chalmers was inspired to help the city's homeless after seeing rough sleepers on his walk to school, and how this led to the creation of Help4Homeless.

The ITV News Anglia team spent time with Tom and volunteer Caravell as they prepared and delivered wellbeing packs to homeless people in Peterborough. The feature shows the personal connections made during these encounters and the real difference these essential items make to people's lives.

"I saw a homeless man sleeping under a bridge pretty much every day while I was on my way to school and work and pretty much from there I developed empathy. I did sit with them and talk to them for a bit and their stories are really compelling and it just made me want to do more."

- Tom Chalmers, Founder, Help4Homeless

The feature beautifully captures the essence of what we do - showing Tom carefully assembling wellbeing packs containing essential items like notepad and pen, plasters, toothpaste, toothbrushes, wipes, deodorant, biscuits, hot chocolate sachets, coffee and more. Each pack costs about £10 to put together and provides immediate practical support to someone experiencing homelessness.

"Sitting with them, having a human conversation like I said, it meant a lot for me as well, having that connection with them and seeing the gratefulness on their face and how much it actually meant to them."

- Tom Chalmers, Founder, Help4Homeless

The feature also introduced volunteer Caravell, who got involved after initially offering to donate some clothes to Tom's charity. Her story shows how people of all ages can get involved and make a real difference in their community.

"To see what he's doing at such a young age and obviously not being that dissimilar in age to my brother, I sort of felt quite protective, bless him, and it was like I want to help."

- Caravell, Help4Homeless Volunteer

The feature also included context from Peterborough City Council, which confirmed that on average there are just over 20 homeless people on the streets in the city. The council welcomed Tom and Caravelle's commitment to supporting rough sleepers and highlighted their ongoing outreach work.

As Tom mentioned in the feature, "Now Tom and Caravelle are keen to raise more funds to increase the support they're able to offer to those living each day with the hardship of sleeping rough in the city." This ITV News feature has already helped us reach more people who want to support our mission.

The experience of being featured on ITV News Anglia was truly amazing for everyone involved in Help4Homeless. It's not every day that a small youth-led charity from Peterborough gets to share their story on regional television, and we're so proud of how Tom represented our organisation and the people we serve.