Volunteers spend 24 hours on the streets of Grimsby to raise money to feed the homeless

Video report by Hannah Norbury

Despite the strong winds and heavy rainfall caused by Storm Bert, a group of people are spending 24 hours living on the streets to raise money to help homeless people in their community.

It's now the third year that the team at Grimsby Food Kitchen have done a sleep out, but this year they're spending a full 24 hours on the streets, not just overnight.

From 11am on Saturday, 23 November, until 11am on 24 November, they are outside with no money, food or drinks. Volunteers said they are relying on the people of Grimsby to help them.

They spent the morning walking the streets of the town, where they raised £76 pounds in donations from local people.

In the evening, they will make their way to a flyover, where they will be sleeping with nothing but cardboard and a sleeping bag.

Cath Homewood, who runs the Grimsby Food Kitchen said: "We wanted to keep it real today. We have no food, no money, we are going to walk around for nine hours before we get bedded down. We just want to get that real sense of what those guys actually go through.

"They are out there in the hail, rain, and snow, they don't get the opportunity to say 'oh it's raining today, we will go find a house'."

Carrie-Anne Boylen-Smith, who helped organise the sleep out said: "I know that this is just 24 hours and while that might be harsh to me, these guys are facing this day in day out, and in 2024, soon to be 2025, I just don't believe they should be facing this."

North East Lincolnshire Council said this month that they have identified 14 people sleeping rough, but acknowledge the number of homeless people will be bigger.

Vitalijs Skuro, who now owns a business in Grimsby called Russian Ink, spent more than a year living on the streets in 2013. He took part in the sleep out, saying: "It's scary, the worst thing is when you feel like you don't have anyone to help you.

"Because I've been through this, I know how horrible and scary it is, I just want to let people know there are people there to help you out and be there for you."

So far they've raised more than £7,000. The money will be used to feed vulnerable and homeless people, which costs around £300 a week, and help pay to keep the electricity and heating running at the food kitchen.

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