Eight year old Joseph gives up his gadgets to support HARP!

We are feeling inspired after having eight year old Joseph visit us to bring in the money he has raised to help local homeless people!

Joseph, like most eight year olds, loves his gadgets but after seeing a homeless man in London, he decided to give them up to raise money for HARP.

Joseph's father, Jason, told us: "We recently went on a trip to London and we saw a homeless guy who had written in chalk on the pavement next to him "hot drinks please".

“My son asked me if he could use some of his spending money to buy this chap a cup of hot chocolate. We went and bought one and the man was very grateful."

After speaking about the homeless man when they got home, Joseph decided to raise sponsorship money by giving up gadgets for a week and he raised an incredible £120!

Joseph, said: "I just want to help homeless people."

Inspired by his son’s kindness, Joseph’s father, Jason, has now signed up for a 100km running event to raise money for us and is also looking forward to volunteering at one of our services.

Our Chief Executive, Gill Garwood, said: “We love seeing people in the community get involved in what we do at HARP and it is wonderful that Joseph, at the age of eight, has shown his support and raised a fantastic amount of money to help local homeless people.

“We currently house 150 people who might otherwise be homeless. This is soon increasing to 170 people as we open our new women’s hostel, White Heather House.

“As we are expanding, the money raised by generous members of the public of all ages, including Joseph, gives us the support that we need to help people in Southend overcome homelessness permanently.

“Joseph’s compassion at such a young age is incredibly inspiring. We would like to say a massive thank you to Joseph and his dad, who should be very proud, for supporting HARP.”

The money that Joseph raised will help us to support local homeless people as they take steps towards a new life away from the streets.